Detective Naoto: One Truth Prevails!
by Mage of Hope
Summary: REWRITTEN! What if Shinichi did die from the drug? What if his tiny sister, Saeko, takes over and changes her identity in order to take down the B.O? Imagine what adventures, romance, and mysteries to uncover when she encounters all sorts of dangers and uses her brain to the tests! Especially when she's got cases to solve, a brotherly Osakan, and an annoying white thief.
1. Prologue

**Hello, folks! I once did a fanfic about this one, but I was busy and had deleted it to focus on my other fanfics, but now I'm back after watching some Case Closed episodes!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Saeko! Hurry up! You know how easily impatient I can get!" complained Shinichi, sitting on a chair in front of his little sister's bed. Saeko was sitting on her bed, criss-crossed, and thinking very carefully.

Saeko happened to be Shinichi's 7-year old sister, about 10 years younger than him, and she looked a little similar to Shinichi. She had long dark hair down to her back, which she had insisted her mother to cut it short, but her mother thought she looked beautiful with long hair. She had the same blue color eyes as her brother, and right now, she was all dressed for bed.

Every time he solved a case, he and his little 7 year old sister, Saeko, would play a game, like Shinichi would give his sister the clues and the suspects names of the cases he solved, and she would try to guess them. If she got them right, there would be a special reward for her the next day, like a huge lollipop, or her favorite, mystery books.

"Hmm..." Saeko snapped her fingers. "I got it! Since the crime took place in a locked room, the only way inside and out would be through the window after stepping into the balcony. Even if the way down was still too long, the murderer still had a way down safely. After he commited the crime, he fixed one end of a rope inside the room, and on the other end, he tied it to the balcony before climbing back down."

"Alright, but how did the rope get untied?" asked Shinichi, challenging her. Ever since they started this game, Saeko got a couple cases wrong, but she has been improving, so she rarely got the cases wrong.

"Well, I can only assume that one of the ends of the rope had some sort of stick or small rod attached that would hold between the balcony's posts. Only one person who knew the layouts of the mansion had to be the owner of the mansion, so therefore, he's the killer!"

"Hmm...interesting, but you're missing one more thing. Proof."

Saeko twitched and concentrated hard. "Um...uh...the owner! Oh yeah! You told me that his medical records indicate that he's fully recovered!"

Shinichi grinned. "That's right, but normally, that wouldn't be enough to prove he was the killer. But still, nice job, Saeko-chan!~" He chuckled and ruffled her head.

"You know I totally hate being called that!" complained Saeko, who suddenly grinned mischeviously. "Unless you want me to call Ran-neechan and tell her Mom's secret nickname for you!~"

Shinichi's face went pale. "No! Anything but that! Alright, I won't call you that anymore!" He turned around and pouted, muttering, "Sneaky little kid..."

"I heard that, Shinichi-niichan!"

Saeko then yelped when she felt Shinichi scoop her up and rock her gently back and forth like she was a baby. "Now, now! Little girls have to go to bed now! Nighty nighty..."

As Shinichi began to whisper soft words to her, Saeko begin to feel sleepy. This isn't the first time he's done this trick to make her fall asleep, and it always worked. Pretty soon, she fell asleep in her brother's arms before he laid her on the bed and turned off the lights.

* * *

_The next morning... _

**BOOM! **Saeko woke up due to a large sound and got up instantly. She opened the windows and saw her family's longtime friend, plus her homeschool teacher, Professor Agasa had crashed a hole in his house, one of his experiments failing yet again.

"Hey, professor! Isn't it a bit early for explosions?" called out Shinichi. Saeko turned to her left and saw her big brother had also woke up due to the explosion and opened the windows in his house.

"Oh! I just wanted to wake you up!" replied Agasa, trying to deny the fact that one of his inventions failed yet again. "Was my wake-up call better than an alarm clock?"

Shinichi and Saeko sighed in annoyance as they both got dressed and helped Agasa to his feet before escorting him to the library where Shinichi would help bandage his wounds.

"This is quite a book collection you've got there!" admitted Agasa, looking around. "Well, since your father is a famous book writer, it's no surprise he's got all these books here!"

"Didn't I tell you to sit still, professor?" sighed Shinichi, trying his best to bandage more of the older professor's wounds as he was glancing around.

"Oh, sorry about that!"

"So, what was that morning experiment about?" asked Shinichi, trying to cover his wounds with some sort of liquid medicine.

"I'll tell you and Saeko-kun, but you two cannot tell anyone else! It's top secret!" said Agasa sternly before pointing to some sort of mechanic backpack he had. "This is a prototype rocketpack for humans! If it works, traffic problems will be solved! And I'll be rich! Aaha!"

Unfortunately, due to his laughter, while he was distracted, the professor accidentally flipped the switch on his rocketpack, making him fly around the library until he crashed head on into a bookshelf before falling down, suffering minor injuries.

Both Shinichi and Saeko looked dumbfounded. "Crazy old kook," he mumbled, sweatdropping.

_'Leave it to hakase to do something like that,' _thought Saeko, also sweatdropping.

"Right...well, I'll leave Saeko's care into your hands, Hakase! Bye!" said Shinichi before running off to school.

Saeko grew irritated. _'And he also doesn't want to help recover more of Hakase's injuries! What a sweet detective...not!' _

* * *

_Several hours later... _

After solving yet another easy problem that was supposed to be hard for kids her age, Saeko looked out the window and sighed. The only friends she had were Ran and Agasa, and she was homeschooled, so she never went to school.

But, being homeschooled did have its positive ways. Firstly, Saeko had developed somewhat a photographic memory, and she was as smart as her brother thanks to Agasa's teachings, so she developed knowledge each and every day ever since he homeschooled her the past few years. But at the same time, she never played with kids her age.

"Nee, Hakase? Do you need any help?" asked Saeko, watching Agasa trying to clean up the mess he made this morning with boredom in her eyes.

"No, I've got this! Just finish your paper-"

"Done."

"Already?! Well, it is expected for you, of course."

Then, the front door begin knocking. "Hey! I'm back!" called out Shinichi.

Excited for another Holmes book or any other reward Shinichi promised, Saeko jumped from her seat and ran to the front door, opening it. "Shinichi-niichan!" She squealed, jumping into his arms.

Shinichi laughed and ruffled her hair as he hugged her. "Nice to see you too! I know you must have miss-"

"So, what'd you get me?! A new mystery book? Candy? Oh, I hope you got the newest gum flavor!"

_'Oh, she only wanted the reward. Mischevious little...' _thought Shinichi, sweatdropping. "No, I got something better! Tommorow, you, me, and Ran are going to Tropical Land!"

"Really?! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Saeko, hugging him tighter. "And we can get more candy there!"

_'Shoot, I totally didn't think about that,' _thought Shinichi, wondering what to do.

"Nee, Shinichi-niichan? I bet you want to have a date with Ran-neechan, huh?" asked Saeko, snickering. Shinichi silently cursed that Saeko inherited some of their mother's playfullness and teasing.

"No! We're just going! As friends! Yeah!" said Shinichi, blushing as he was putting her down.

"Okay, whatever you say, _lover boy_." With that said, Saeko started making smooching sounds with her lips before running off, laughing as she was being chased by a red-faced teenage detective.

* * *

_The next day... _

"Arigato, Shinichi-niichan! That ice cream was so good!~" chirped Saeko, holding onto her brother's hand as he and Ran were walking around the amusement park.

_'Yeah, nice to cut down half my money,' _thought Shinichi, annoyed.

"Aw!~ It was nice for you to bring Saeko-chan along! It's been a while since I've seen her!" said Ran, looking at Shinichi cheerfully.

_'Then again, it is nice to have some praise,' _thought Shinichi, grinning.

"Look, Shinichi! There are still spaces on the Mystery Coaster! Let's go!" said Ran, pointing to one of the most scariest rides in Tropical Land.

While Ran ran ahead, Saeko noticed some kids trying to sneak through an air vent and said, "Shinichi-niichan! Look!"

Shinichi frowned, looking annoyed. "Those kids...trying the free ride trick, huh? Kids nowadays..."

"Hey!" Saeko pouted, giving Shinichi a kick that barely did anything.

Once inside, the three of them lines up at the back as Shinichi was talking to Ran. "About the amazing skills of Holmes, when he met his assistant Watson with only a handshake, he knew Watson had been a military doctor! For example, like this!"

Shinichi gently grabbed the hand of a young woman in front of him, surprising her and her friend. _'Wow, way to make Ran your girlfriend, Shinichi-baka,' _thought Saeko, annoyed and a little disgusted by what Shinichi was doing.

"You're a well-trained gymnast, aren't you?" asked Shinichi.

"H-how did you know?!"

"Is he your friend, Hitomi?" asked Hitomi's friend.

"How'd you know?" asked Ran, surprised.

"It's because of the blisters in her hand," explained Shinichi. "When a woman has lots of blisters in her hand, then she must have been gripping metal bars several times."

"Yeah...but you'd get blisters from playing tennis, too!" said Ran.

"Well, the truth is, a little while ago, when the wind accidentally blew up her skirt, I saw it," admitted Shinichi. "People who have to practice on parallel bars would have strange bruises on their thighs!"

_'Ugh...even if that was true, that's just...ew...' _thought Saeko, annoyed.

"Then, you already knew from the start! That's cheating!" said Ran. "And how long are you going to hold her hand?"

"Oh! Right!" Immediantly, Shinichi let go and rubbed the back of his head childishly.

"Hey! You separated us from our friends!" shouted a man to Shinichi's face.

_'Looks like Shinichi-niichan finally getting what he deserves,' _thought Saeko, a bit satisfied.

"Oh, are you two friends? Should we switch places?" asked Shinichi, quickly to Hitomi.

"N-no, it's fine!"

"Besides, we shouldn't bother Aiko and Kishida-kun," replied Hitomi's friend. Shinichi and Saeko turned and saw this Aiko and Kishida kissing each other passionately.

Saeko saw Shinichi with a dazed look on his face with drool falling down on his chin. "Nii-chan...what are you thinking...?"

"Shinichi! Saeko-chan! There's a place up front!" called Ran, grabbing both their hands and running off with them. Once the three of them were seated, Shinichi was still talking about Holmes and detectives as Ran and Saeko were forced to listen, annoyed.

"And did you know that Conan Doyle was going to say-"

"Ugh! Could you give it a rest?!" snapped Ran, startling both him and Saeko. "I don't care about Conan Doyle or Holmes! You're an annoying, detective NERD!" Ran sighed and a sad look on her face appeared. "And here, I thought we might be able to spend the day together without talking about mysteries and all that kind of stuff."

"Nice...you made her upset..." mumbled Saeko, who was behind the seat of the two of them.

"Uh...Ran, the truth is, uh..." Shinichi panicked and tried to get her all better.

Ran started laughing and nudged Shinichi in the shoulder. "Baka! What are you nervous about? You know I'm only pretending! If you fell for this easily, how could you be a smart detective?"

"Grr..." Shinichi seemed annoyed, even about the fact that Saeko was snickering behind his back, literally!

Saeko yelped when the ride started to move and they were heading outside, where they were slowly going up and up. She couldn't help but overhear Shinichi and Ran's conversation.

"But you know, I was really looking forward to this!" Ran whispered, holding onto Shinichi's hand tightly. Everyone screamed as the roller coaster went down and entered into a dark cave. Saeko was glad there was safety in the coaster as she screamed in excitement. But then she heard some sort of strang zip sound and a man grunting in pain.

Before she could question it, by the time they got outside, she was shocked to see that one of the passengers was beheaded. Before long, everyone on the ride screamed in horror, and soon, police cars surrounded the amusement park.

Meanwhile, a small group of kids, three to be exact, stopped moving when they heard police sirens. "Oh no! The police! They must have come to arrest us!" cried out the boy in blue.

Shinichi and Saeko had seen the kids and walked towards them. "Look, Shinichi-niichan!" said Saeko, hiding behind her brother's leg and pointing to them.

"A-ack! We're sorry! We didn't come in without paying money!" admitted the boy in blue quickly, only to get hit in the head by the big boy in green.

"Hey! You're the highschool detective, right?" asked the girl in red.

Shinichi kneeled down and winked at her. "Yup, Shinichi Kudo, at your service!"

"Oh! Genta! Look! It's a girl!" said the boy in boy, blushing at the sight of Saeko, who was looking at them with curiousity.

The boy in green blushed and sighed. "Yeah, she's so pretty...and I think she's hot too..."

After hearing that, Shinichi frowned and stomped towards the two kids, hands on his hips. "Alright you two, listen up 'cause I'll only say this once. Got it?"

"Uh..."

"I said, GOT IT?"

At the sound of Shinichi cracking his knuckles, Genta and the boy in green quickly nodded. "Y-yes!"

"First, it'll be YEARS before you can think about dating my little sis. And second, if you even THINK about calling her 'hot' again, well, let's say I have 'methods' of arresting you boys..." Just for dramatic effect, Shinichi made the scariest face he could make while grinning in an evil way.

"AAAAAHHH!" screamed the boys before they ran off with the girl in red following them.

Shinichi snickered as Saeko looked annoyed. _'Leave it to Shinichi-niichan to suddenly be so protective.' _

Soon, a large crowd gathered to see the crime scene but several police officers refused to let anyone other than the police and suspects in. Aiko, Kishida's lover, was sobbing over her dead lover's body as Hitomi's friend comforted her.

"Why would Kishida-kun..." Aiko continued sobbing.

Two of the suspects, which happened to be both men in black, only one of them was long-haired. "Hey, why are we here? We've got other important business, so let us go!" argued the long-haired man.

"Wrong! It was a murder!" announced Shinichi. "Also, the criminal was sitting in the same vehicle as the victim, and the murderer is among the 8 people!"

"Is what you said true, Kudo-kun?" questioned Megure, shocked.

"Wait a minute, THAT Kudo?" gasped one of the men in black. Apparently, everyone else heard his name and began whispering all about the famous highschool detective.

Afterwards, Megure presented Shinichi a piece of paper that listed the 8 people who were on the ride, and Saeko was close by enough to see the paper and listen to the whole thing.

"Alright, let's say we exclude you, Ran-kun, and Saeko-kun for now, but that would be 5 people are still suspects," explained Megure. "Sitting in the first row was victim's friend A and victim's friend B. Sitting in the third row was victim's girlfriend and the victim himself. Then, in the last row, the two victims, the men in black, both D and E. But all of them were under safety restraints, so the only person with the chance to kill him would be the victim's girlfriend!"

"Hey, could you hurry it up?" said the long-haired man impatiently. "We don't have time to play detective games with you!"

Shinichi glared at the long-haired man, who glared back with cold, emotionless eyes. Saeko noticed and thought, _'What's his hurry? And from the look in his eyes, I don't trust him easily.' _

"Inspector!" called out a police officer. "We found a bloody knife inside this lady's purse!"

Saeko turned and gasped when she and the others saw a knife tied in a bloody napkin inside the purse. "No way! I've never seen this knife before!" cried out Aiko.

"Aiko! But why? Why would you try and kill your boyfriend?" wondered Hitomi sadly.

"No! I-I didn't!"

_'Yeah, I'm pretty suspicious where that knife came from, but I know it's not strong enough to simply behead someone in one swoop. It would take several slices to cut off a head clean off,' _thought Saeko. _'The murder must have taken place inside the cave, where no one would see the killer. Even if that lady did, she'd be all bloody from trying to slice her boyfriend's head off, and I don't think she did it because of the short amount of time in the cave. She's not the killer.'_

"There! It's that woman! Case closed!" said the long-haired man impatiently. "Now let us go!"

"Okay! Arrest that lady!" ordered Megure.

"Could you wait a moment, Inspector Megure?" requested Shinichi. "She isn't the murderer!"

"Huh? Then who is it?"

Shinichi took a few steps forward and said, "One truth always prevails, therefore, the murderer is...YOU!" He pointed to Hitomi and got many shocked reactions.

_'W-what? But how would-?' _thought Saeko before noticing something. _'Wait, last time I checked, she had a necklace on. A wire necklace! So, would that mean that she...wait I need to think!' _

"W-what are you saying?!" exclaimed Hitomi. "We found the knife inside Aiko's handbag!"

"True, but even a knife like that can't completely decapitate someone's head!" said Shinichi. "Also, considering a woman's strength, that's impossible! You wanted to frame Aiko-san, so you put a knife in her handbag earlier."

"But she was sitting in the front, so wouldn't that make it impossible?" asked Megure.

"If you use the speed of the roller coaster and a wire, then it's possible!" assured Shinichi.

_'Wait...the wire? You mean, from the necklace?' _wondered Saeko. She saw several police officers, and Shinichi and Megure in the roller coaster cart, getting into position.

"Look, everyone! Pretend I'm the murderer, and that the inspector is the victim!" Shinichi started to explain. "First, before the safety bars are down, I put something like a handbag behind me and I pull down the safety bars!" Just as he said, Shinichi placed a bag behind his bag and pulled down the safety bars. Then, he slid down, making the bag behind him fall. "Look! Because there's extra space, it's easy to get out!" He then took out a metal hook and some rope. "Now, I get out a metal hook and rope, then securing my legs to the safety bar with my body leaning to the back, I put the hook over the victim's neck..." As he explained he did these things. "Of course, this is done in the dark cave, then I take the hook and throw it to the rails, and I would use the coaster's speed and momentum which was enough to cut the victim's head off!"

_'And since Hitomi-san is a trained gymnast, this wouldn't be such a problem!' _thought Saeko.

"Oh yeah? Where's the proof?" questioned Hitomi.

"Hitomi-san, where's your necklace?"

_'So, I was right! She used the wire from the necklace and did exactly what Shinichi-niichan described! Looks like he is a better detective than I thought,' _thought Saeko.

"When you came here, you were wearing a pearl necklace," explained Shinichi, taking a bag of a metal hook and a long wire with some pearls. "Is this it? There's another piece of evidence. Your tears. You knew the victim was going to die, so you cried before killing him. There are still traces of tears on your face. If you didn't start while riding the roller coaster, then the tears shouldn't be flowing sideways."

Just after he said that, tears were still streaming down Hitomi's cheeks, and she collapsed to her knees, crying afterwards. "It was his fault! He dumped me!"

"Hitomi, were you and Kishida together before?" asked Hitomi's friend.

"That's right! Before we went to university, before we met Aiko and Reiko! So...I wanted to...in the place of our first date...So, I used the very necklace he gave me and killed him..." She couldn't continue, and instead began crying more.

Saeko looked at Hitomi with pity. She's heard and seen these kinds of dramatic breakdowns in many shows and books, but this is the time she's seen in real life. She wondered if other murders were like this too.

* * *

_Later, that night... _

Ran was still crying over what happened for the past few hours, and Shinichi and Saeko sighed as they tried to cheer up Ran. "Hey, hey! It's okay! Stop crying!" assured Shinichi gently.

"How could you be so calm?" asked Ran, still sobbing.

"I've been to many types of these scenes, so I'm used to them!"

"How terrible!"

"Look, it's alright!" said Shinichi. "This kind of thing happens all the time!'

"No, they don't!" With that said, Ran began crying more.

"Wow, nice to comfort someone, Shinichi-baka," said Saeko, annoyed.

"O-Oi! The least you could do is help me!" hissed Shinichi, trying desperately to calm down Ran. Both of them blinked when they saw one of the men in black before running off into the shadows of the alleyway.

"Sorry, Ran! Could you take Saeko back home with you? I gotta check something!" called Shinichi, running off. "I'll be quick and catch up with you!"

Ran reached out for him, but sighed, knowing when Shinichi gets to something, he's too stubborn to let go. "Alright Saeko, let's go and-Saeko-chan? Where did she go?"

Meanwhile, a bald man was holding a briefcase, anxiously waiting for someone to arrive. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Director," apologized one of the men in black from before.

"You're late! I've already waited for 2 hours! I followed your instructions and came here alone!"

"I know. I saw you while I was at the roller coaster."

"Good! Then hurry up and give it to me!"

"First, the money, then you get what you want."

"Fine, fine! Just take it!" The bald man handed the man in black a briefcase full of money.

Shinichi was eavesdropping and watching carefully not too far away. "Whoa...that's gotta be at least a million!" he whispered.

"Quickly! Give me the film!" cried out the bald man.

"This film is evidence of your company smuggling weapons, is that correct?" questioned the man in black before tossing the film to the bald man.

The bald man examined it carefully. "You sure this is the only film?"

"Of course!"

"..." The bald man quickly fleed, with the man in black watching him flee.

Before Shinichi could do anything, he felt the cold temple of a gun pressed behind his head, making him freeze in place. "Hold it right there, detective. Now back away and then turn around."

Gulping, Shinichi did as he was told and revealed himself to the man in black, surprising him. When Shinichi turned around with his hands up, he gasped when he saw the long-haired man pointing a gun at him, but that wasn't the issue.

He was also holding his little sister captive as well!

Saeko was struggling to get freed from the long-haired man, but he was several times stronger than her, and he held her by the mouth so she couldn't talk. All she could cry out were muffled screams and cries. She was trying to follow Shinichi, and when she got close, she was quickly caught by this man.

"Hey! Let her go! She's got nothing to do with this!" shouted Shinichi, trying to find a weak spot in the man so he could try and free his sister.

"Aniki, what are we waiting for? Let's just shoot them!" said the man in black, getting his gun out. Saeko's eyes widen at the sight of the gun and her scream was muffled.

"No!" Shinichi instinctly stepped in front of the man and the other man in black, trying to protect his sister.

"No, the police are still nearby," said the long-haired man before taking out a small container. "Kudo, if you want to save this girl, then you'll do what I say. Take this container, and swallow one of the pills."

Shinichi was forced to take the container and opened it. Inside, he found a couple of pills and took one. He glanced at the captive Saeko, who was crying out tears and shaking her head while being at gunpoint. Wanting to save her, Shinichi took the pill and swallowed it whole.

Almost instantly after he took it, he grabbed at his neck and began choking, falling to the ground and clutching the grass while gasping for breath. Before Saeko knew it, the long-haired man pushed her to the ground facedown, then forced the same pill down her throat. Saeko felt like her body was burning up, like she was inside a pool of lava, slowly being burned away.

"W-what did you do...?" asked Shinichi, struggling to live.

The long-haired man answered, "It's quite simple. It's a new poisonous drug, and once one consumes it, there's no detection on the corpse. Well, sayonara, both of you." After saying that, both him and his partner fled from the scene.

"S-Shinch-" Before Saeko could say anymore, she closed her eyes and her hand went limp.

Shinichi ignored the burning pain that was now coursing through his body and was crawling towards Saeko, weakly touching her hand. "S-Saeko...I'm...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean for...things to end up like this...maybe you might be able to forgive me in the other si-"

Shinichi couldn't finish, and dropped dead for the first and final time.

* * *

**Hello, fellas! Yeah, I bet you weren't expecting that, but hey, it's possible for a kid Saeko's age to be that smart. I once a read a book that had a 10 year old kid attend highschool, so no complaining!**

**I'll try not to make Saeko some Mary Sue and explain her actions. I'll also change her when she becomes 'Conan Edogawa,' but keep a couple of things similar.**

**If anyone has any requests or ideas for this story, please feel free to put them in the review! Also, I plan to have Saeko fall in love with someone in this fanfic. I'll have a poll up soon in my profile, if you can keep 2 polls. It'll be whether it should be Mitsu-that freckled face boy that wears blue, and male Ai, if people decide to add a male or female version.**

**Read and review!**


	2. Introducting Naoto Edogawa!

**Hey, thanks for reviewing! Like I said, a couple of changes will be put in this story, so yeah.**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Nngh..." Saeko slowly started to wake up and rubbed her forehead, regaining her sights. She remembered everything that happened and glanced around only to find the dead, cold body of Shinichi Kudo.

Saeko just stood there, frozen at the sight of her big brother, the famous detective that was supposed to be invincible, the only family she had ever since their parents started traveling overseas. Now, he was completely cold, his future taken from him by two simple guys in black.

Saeko panicked and felt her stomach acid rising from her stomach to her throat before throwing up. Her food, her gastric juices, everything as she began to cry. After a while, she continued to throw up even though she has nothing in her stomach. She felt so much pain as she continued crying

More gastric juices drips from her lips, only mixed with her own blood. The blood probably came from her throat since there's nothing else from her stomach to throw up with. She weakly wiped the vomit and blood from her lips and mouth with her sleeve before walking towards Shinichi's body.

"S-Shinichi-niichan..." she muttered, knowing it was useless. She had no idea how she survived, but she knew Shinichi was long dead. She then heard footsteps approaching and some voices, so she was forced to drag Shinichi's body towards some bushes which were luckily enough to hide him. She rushed behind a tree just before two police officers appeared.

"Huh...nothing here," one of them said before investigating the area a bit more. Afterwards, they left, and when they did, Saeko made a run for it, heading straight towards Agasa's home.

When she finally arrived, she stopped to catch her breath when she heard a huge explosion. She turned and saw the same wall Agasa had fixed this morning being taken down, again. Agasa stepped out of the smoke and started coughing, his experiment failing once more.

"Hakase! Hakase! It's me! Saeko!" said Saeko, running up to him.

"Huh? Saeko-kun? What happened?" asked Agasa, forgetting his injuries. "You look hurt! And dirty! And...is that blood?"

Immediantly, Agasa took her inside Shinichi's home, forgetting the mess he created. He forced her to take a shower while he go fetched some clean clothing for her. After Saeko showered, Agasa still noticed blood stains in her long hair, and was forced to cut it until Saeko had short, tomboyish, but cute hair fitted for a girl, and in addition, there was a cowlick on top of her head that stuck out. The only clothing Saeko wore was a dark blue jacket over a dress shirt, blue shorts, and red sneakers.

"...I see. So that's what happened," said Agasa sadly. "But even though the poison killed Shinichi, why didn't it affect you?"

"No idea," sighed Saeko. "But I do know that those men in black killed Shinichi-niichan with that same kind of poison! So then, all I have to do to find them, arrest them, and as a bonus, steal the poison! I mean, anyone could be affected and still survive somehow, only with dire changes."

"Well, that would be a start, but listen! If these men discover you're still alive, they're bound to come looking for you!" He bent down and grabbed the child's shoulders. "It is important that you must keep everything a secret! You must change your identity and tell no one, especially Ran-kun!"

"Shinichi! Shinichi, are you home?" called out Ran, shocking Saeko and Agasa.

"What?! I thought you locked the door!" hissed Saeko.

"I...uh...tend to forget such things. I was fixated on you!" defended Agasa.

"Grrrr...you gotta distract her!" Saeko hid behind the desk and crotched low, trying to hide herself as Ran entered the library.

"Oh, Hakase!" sighed Ran in relief. "Sorry, is Shinichi or Saeko here?"

While Ran and Agasa were talking, Saeko was trying to figure out what to do when she opened one of th drawers and saw a pair of glasses. _'Otou-san's glasses! They might just fit!' _she thought before grabbing them. When she put them on, her vision went blurry and she accidentally hit her head against the desk, loud enough for Ran to hear.

"Is somebody back there?" wondered Ran, walking towards the desk.

_'Come on, come on!' _Saeko quickly took out the lenses and wore the glasses perfectly like they hers to begin.

"Aha! I thought so! Don't be shy!" said Ran, turning a panicked Saeko around by the shoulders gently. When Ran saw Saeko, she looked surprised, and Saeko was practically begging the heavens not to let Ran recognize she was Saeko.

Instead, Ran hugged her tightly and squealed, completely infatuated by Saeko's cute disguise. "You're so cute!~ KYA!~"

_'Oh my God, I can't believe that worked!' _thought Saeko, relieved.

"Is she with you?" asked Ran, turning to Agasa.

"Oh, yes. She's uh...the niece of a relative of mine!"

Ran turned back to Saeko, who was forced to lean against the bookshelves. "What's your name?"

"Um...uh..." Saeko glanced around the books, randomly choosing a name. "Naoto! Naoto Edogawa! Yeah, that's my name!"

"Naoto? That's a strange name to give to a girl yourself," said Ran, confused.

"W-well, my parents were huge fans of detectives, and I'm a huge fan too, so they named me after that! Even if it is strange!"

"Say, I got it!" said Agasa, quickly changing the subject. "Ran-kun, could you please take care of Naoto-kun for awhile?"

"What?! Are you craz-" Before Naoto could continue, Agasa quickly grabbed her and covered her mouth so she wouldn't expose anymore unneccessary information.

"You see, her parents were in an accident and in a hospital, and well, I'm terrible of taking care of kids, given my lifestyle!" explained Agasa, making up a fake story.

"It's alright with me, but I'll have to ask my Dad," replied Ran.

"Oh, thank you! It would be such a huge help!" thanked Agasa, putting down 'Naoto.'

"Are you completely out of your mind? There's a chance they could find out who I am!" hissed Naoto as Agasa kneeled down to quietly talk to her.

"Have you forgotten? If you ever hope of catching those men, you'll need help! And remember, Ran-kun's father is a private detective!" whispered back Agasa.

Naoto seemed to be getting what Agasa was trying to tell her. "Oh! So I'll have a better chance at finding some leads!"

"That's right!"

After discussing a bit more with Agasa, Ran was escorting Naoto back to her home while down the street. "So, tell me about yourself, Naoto-chan," said Ran.

"Huh?" Naoto, who was still depressed and thinking about her long-dead brother, blinked. "Oh! You mean me! So, what is it?"

'Well, do you have a crush on a certain boy?"

"Huh? No way! Boys are uh..." Naoto tried to think of a way girls her age would act. "Yuckie! Yeah! Boys are yuckie!"

Ran giggled. "Well, you won't always have to think that way. Let me tell you a secret, Naoto-chan. You see, I have this crush on a boy I like. His name's Shinichi."

"Huh?" Naoto stopped, frozen. If Ran had found out that the boy she liked was now dead, she would truly be devasted. Naoto kept a happy, fake grin and asked, "Oh! So, what's he like?"

"Ever since we were kids, he's always been a bit too full of himself," said Ran. "But he's always been there for me, he's brave, and handsome, and that's some of the reasons why I love him. But that'll be our secret, okay?"

Naoto only nodded, looking down. She felt her heart ache, and wondered if she should tell Ran, despite Agasa's warning. After all, it's just one person, right?

Soon, they arrived at the Mori Detective Agency, where it was both a detective agency and Ran's home. "Well, here we are! It's like I'm bringing home a new little sister! A cute one at that! Come on! I'll introduce you to my Dad!"

"Um...listen, Ran?" Ran stopped walking to turn to where Naoto was. "You see, the truth is...the truth-"

"I DID IT! I DID IT!" A man cried out, running down the stairs before tripping and falling on his head. "Ow...but, good news! I got my first job after six months! Someone named Miwazaki Yama called me, saying he was robbed in his mansion and asked me to investigate! One of the employees said it was a man in black!"

Naoto gasped when she heard that. _'Could it be one of those guys that killed Shinichi-niichan?' _

"Taxi!" called out Kogoro before a taxi showed up. Just as Kogoro got in, Naoto slipped in as well, forcing Ran to run inside the taxi as well.

"Towards Miwazaki Yama's mansion, please!" ordered Naoto, anxious to find the thief.

After the taxi driver understood that, he started driving while Kogoro glared at Naoto. "Who's the little brat? And why'd you two come?"

"I was trying to stop her!" Ran said, pointing to Naoto. 'And her name's Naoto, not 'brat!'"

"So, what? Just throw her out! I don't wanna have her getting in the way!"

"Oh sure, I'll just toss her out in the middle of a HIGHWAY!"

_'Wow, Shinichi-niichan was right. This guy is annoying, and a bit of a jerk,' _thought Naoto, annoyed as she watched Ran and Kogoro comically bickering. "Uh...I like car rides!"

Once they arrived at the medium-sized mansion, they were greeted by a man with a moustache, some sort of butler, and two servants. "Alright, are you Mr. Yama-san?" asked Kogoro, addressing to the moustache man.

"Yes, that's correct. I am Miwazaki Yama, head of the Yama family. This is my butler, Shinpei, and my most trusted servants, the blue one is Nami, and the red one is Tizuko."

"Nice to meet you, sir," welcomed the female employee wearing the blue apron, Nami.

"Yes, welcome," said the red apron employee, Tizuko.

"So, can anyone explain to me everything about the crime scene? I know Mr. Yama was robbed," said Kogoro.

"Well, me and the other employees were cleaning up the house, and Tizuko here was the only one who went shopping for more supplies. Most of the time, I was at the dining room," explained Shinpei, escorting everyone to the messy dining room, where half of the room was empty.

"Then it's pretty obvious who the robber is! You did!" shouted Kogoro, pointing to Shinpei. "You thought you had it all figured out, don't you? Unfortunately, mentioning that you were cleaning this part of the house where it was currently the crime scene was not a smart move. Not smart at all."

_'Oh my God, he's such an idiot,' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping. _'He hasn't even heard the other suspects, and he's already accusing this one. Still, there is a possibility that Ran's Dad could be right, only for the wrong reasons.' _

"Oji-san! I just thought of something!" chirped Naoto, pretending to be cheerful. "Wouldn't Yama-san be a suspect too? I mean, this is his place, and-"

"You idiot! Yama-san was at work all day! And besides, why would he trash his own place?" asked Kogoro, hitting Naoto in the head with his fist.

"Otou-san!" scolded Ran, hitting Kogoro in the back.

"Okay, but if Yama-san was really famous, he probably had a lot of competition in his company, meaning one of his rivals might have sent a thief to trash his home!" suggested Naoto.

"Hmm...that is a good point," Kogoro had to agree. "Yama-san, did you have some sort of rivalry with other companies or any enemies?"

"Well, I do have lots of rivalries, but my mansion has top security, so no mere burgular could get away!" revealed Miwazaki.

"Then, could it be one of your employees from the inside?" wondered Naoto. "If you have high security, Mr., wouldn't it be easy for one of your employees working inside to-OW!"

Frustrated, Kogoro punched the back of Naoto's head. "Alright, stay outta this, brat! Leave the investigating to the grownups!"

_'...Asshole,' _thought Naoto, more annoyed as she rubbed her head.

"But, the kid does have a point," said Miwazaki. "If one of my employees did steal from me, it'd be most likely from the inside."

"Then, that counts Tizuko out," replied Kogoro. "That leaves only Shinpei and Nami left."

"But that's strange," spoke up Naoto. "You have only three servants, Mr. Yama-san. I thought you might have more."

"Well, they're all on vacation or visiting their families," explained Miwazaki. "Since they work so hard, once each month, I decided to give my employees a week off whenever they want."

"That's pretty generous of you," admitted Ran.

Kogoro turned to Nami and asked, "You say that you and Shinpei-san cleaned the dining room, right? Did you clean anywhere else?"

"Well, I'm not sure about Shinpei, but I did clean some other rooms, like upstairs bathroom and the master's bedroom. That's about it. I think the robbery started from around 7-8."

"What makes you say so?" asked Kogoro.

"Well, me and Shinpei-san were cleaning up the dining room at around 6, and Tizuko left for the store at somewhere at 7 for some more supplies."

"Did you clean anywhere else, Shinpei?"

"W-well, I cleaned the bathroom and prepared food for tommorow in the kitchen, but that was it."

"Hmm..."

Luckily, no one noticed Naoto leaving as she explored the house to investigate. When she went to the downstairs bathroom, she glanced at the window, and saw that the screen behind the glass window was slightly off somehow.

Naoto flinched when she saw a fly in front of her and tried to shoo it away. "Ugh! I hate bugs!" _'But why was one here? Normally, mansions would never allow bugs,' _thought Naoto. She noticed something white on the brown, wooden window and tried to lick it. "It's...sweet. Where have I tasted this before?"

She went outside and opened up a green trash bin before discovering some sort of window screen with a large hole in it. _'I see! I got it! I think I know who robbed this man!' _

"Shinpei, I'm afraid I will have to take you down to the station," said Kogoro, grabbing hold of the butler's arm.

"No! It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Shinpei, how could you? After I trusted you with everything!" said Miwazaki.

Naoto rushed into the room, in time to see Shinpei being yelled at by Miwazaki. _'No! I have to think of something, and fast!' _she thought, glancing around to see if something would prevent them from leaving. She knew they wouldn't listen to a kid.

Frustrated, she kicked at the air, but one of her sneakers were untied, so the sneaker fell out of her foot, bounced off the nearby wall, and hit the back of Kogoro's head so hard, he was knocked and stumbled back into a chair.

_'...Oh...how convenient,' _thought Naoto, running behind the chair. She cleared her throat and tried to impersonate Kogoro's voice as best as she could. "S-sorry, everyone. I just needed to sit down for a moment."

"Otou-san? What happened to your voice?" asked Ran.

"I er...must have caught a cold! Yeah!"

Ran sighed. "I told you you shouldn't have drunk that many beer bottles! Now, your voice is changing!"

_'Jeez, this guy drinks too? What a happy guy I'm going to live with!' _thought Naoto sarcastically. "Anyways, I figured out who the real robber is, and it's not Shinpei-san. Instead, it's really Tizuko!"

"Wait, what?! I was at the store at the time of the robbery, so it couldn't have been me!" said Tizuko.

"No, you could have, through the downstairs window at the bathroom," said Naoto, trying to imitate Kogoro's voice.

"But my house has high security," reminded Miwazaki.

"True, but usually, when you clean the house, you normally open the windows to let all the dust out, and you turn off the security because of the windows opening, giving Tizuko a chance to enter. But, there was a window screen in his way, so he ripped through the screen and entered inside, quickly grabbing as many riches as he could before exiting. He must have bought a new window screen with the same size, but didn't have much time to fix it, so he left it there."

"Lies! If that's true, where's the proof?" asked Tizuko.

"...Tizuko-san, what's that dripping out of your back pocket?"

Everyone looked at Tizuko's back pocket and saw drips of white ice cream from an ice cream bar melting. "Oh yes, Tizuko-san always had a thing for sweets," said Nami.

"I discovered something white in one of the windows, the one window you slipped through. That white had to be something sweet, like your ice cream. I bet we don't have to say anything else," said Naoto, who stopped trying her poor imitation of Kogoro before reappearing, acting like she just entered the room.

"Tizuko-san, is this true?" asked Shinpei.

Suddenly, Tizuko charged towards Naoto, shocking her before holding her up by the arm and pointing a knife at her neck. _'Oh no! I'm trapped! Crap!' _she thought.

"Don't move! Anyone!" shouted Tizuko.

"No!" cried out Ran.

"But why?" asked Miwazaki.

"Obviously, I waited long enough to earn your trust and then steal your belongings to sell them!" explained Tizuko. "And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for this meddling detective!"

_'Ah great, where did that comment come from again? I think it was from that dog mystery show,' _wondered Naoto. She knew she was being used as a hostage and pretended to be scared, struggling as she cried out, "Help! Please! I'm scared! He's pointing something to me! Aah!"

"Shut it, kid!" But Naoto ignored him and knocked the knife out of his hands with her leg, giving Ran a chance to strike. She rushed forward and punched him several times in the stomach before knocking him out with one hard kick to his face, releasing Naoto.

_'Damn, she kicks ass!' _thought Naoto, stunned as she saw Ran take a deep breath.

Kogoro began to wake up from his knockout experience. "Ow...what just happened?"

"Nice job, Mouri-san! I'll be sure to sent you a check first thing tommorow!" promise Miwazaki.

"Huh? What just happen-"

"Wow! You're amazing, oji-san!" praised Naoto, trying to change the subject. "You managed to solve the case so early! I'm so impressed!"

"Huh? I guess I did...wahahahaha!" laughed Kogoro, bragging.

_'Okay...maybe knocking him out and trying to solve the case wasn't such a good idea after all,' _thought Naoto. _'But at least the culprit was caught.' _

While Ran, Kogoro, and Naoto were taking the taxi back home, Ran had just explaining to her Dad all about Naoto. "...And Hakase told me that I should try and take care of her, so can we, Dad? Please?"

"Hmm..." Kogoro took a closer look at Naoto, who just seemed annoyed.

_'Well, if I do live with him, it'll make me a less target,' _thought Naoto. Thankful that her mother was a famous actress, Naoto made the puppy dog eyes and whimpered. "Please? I'll be real good!"

If any female saw this, they would practically squeal and treat Naoto as their new ruler of cuteness. "Oh, why not? Since she did come here, I've got a job from a rich guy and she might be my good luck charm!' Kogoro started playfully slapping Naoto on the back. "Welcome to the family, kiddo!"

_'Yeah, and I hope not for too long,' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping.

* * *

**Whew! Well, it's not really that much of a case, but I have no idea how the author of Detective Conan does it, how he always does these complicated cases! Guess he's really smart! By the way, the poll in my profile is still on. Any ideas for cases anyone? Read and review!**


	3. Timed Case

**Heya, guys! Just mentioning that I will be skipping a couple of episodes, but not right now. I just need some case ideas or something!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Man! Looking at our situation now, there's no way we can find those men in black!" sighed Naoto, frustrated. She was hanging out in Agasa's place and discussing what she leanred about the men in black, but nothing. It's been 2 days since she lived with Ran and her Dad, and nothing good was going on.

"Be patient, Naoto," said Agasa, putting away some books. "If you're hasty and they find out you're really Saeko Kudo, then what will happen?"

"I know!" sighed Naoto, crossing her arms. "Not only me, but everyone else will be in danger too!"

"Oh, yes! Ran-kun came here yesterday!" revealed Agasa, now remembering this. "She told me that she was worried Shinichi wasn't at school for a few days and that Saeko-kun was missing, and tried to call the police, but I assured her that everything was fine and that Shinichi and you were on a case. Saeko, I mean."

"Well, it;s kinda a good thing we made that secret grave," said Naoto.

"Yes, well, I'm not sure how long I can keep this up before she really starts getting suspicious," sighed Agasa.

Naoto glanced down at the ground sadly. She knew how Ran would react if she had found out that Shinichi was really gone for good, and she never wanted Ran to be so sad and depressed. The least she could do for Ran would be to try and get her a new love interest if she can.

"Oh, right! I made something special that might be useful in your investigations!" Agasa handed her a wristwatch and a blue bowtie. "Here it is! A voice-changing bow-tie and a stun-gun wristwatch!"

Naoto took the inventions, confused. "What do they do?"

"For the bow-tie, just rotate the dial inside to alter the pitch and frequence of your voice!" replied Agasa. "You can speak any voice, whether it's female or male or old!"

Naoto did as she was told and spoke in a unison voice, **"Hello? Hello?"** She pulled back and said, "Wow! That sounds cool! And what does the wristwatch do?"

"This is a tranquilizer gun that comes in the shape of a watch. You can put anyone to sleep right away!"

_'Suddenly, I have a good idea who to use this next,' _thought Naoto, snickering. The next time Kogoro did something to her, well, let's just say he'll be put to sleep.

When she arrived back at Mouri's Detective Agency, she tried to once again, turn the knob on the door since she was too small and tiny. It took her 10 minutes to finally reach up the doorknob and open the door to see Kogoro talking to the phone.

"What?! Someone was murdered? I'll be right there!" said Kogoro before hanging up the phone.

"Otou-san? What's going on?" asked Ran as she watched Kogoro grab his coat.

"I just heard that a woman named Akito Hashami was murdered in her own apartment, and the police has informed me of it! You and the little brat stay here!" With that said, Kogoro ran out of the office and towards the location of the crime scene.

Ran sighed. "Well, Naoto-cha-where are you going?"

* * *

_Later... _

"Alright, find out what it is!" said Inspector Megure to one of the police officers.

"Inspector Megure! Detective Mouri, reporting for duty!" said Kogoro, saluting.

"Oh...it's you," said Megure, sighing. "Well, I might as well inform you what happened. Akito Hashami, age 29, single, and works as a traveling artist. According to the autotopsy, she died at around 3 and the weapon happened to be a small, but heavy alarm clock. So far, there's the suspect and the witness."

"And who are they?"

"The suspect is over there, Kei Tomaki," said Megure, pointing to Kei who looked sad and being guarded by some guards. "And the witness, the one who found the body, was a man named Hinato Torimaki, a newspaper seller. He had left for the bathroom a while ago. Apparently, the witness saw Mr. Tomaki leaving the victim's apartment in a hurry. The witness was puzzled and knocked on the door, only to find it open and saw the victim laying in a pool of blood."

"So, how was Mr. Tomaki connected to the victim?" asked Naoto.

"Naoto-chan!" panted Ran, catching up to her. "You shouldn't run off like that!"

"Hey, brat! I thought I told you to stay home!" scolded Kogoro, picking Naoto up by the back of her jacket and throwing her across the floor not too far or hard, but enough to cause pain to Naoto's bottom.

_'Jerkface,' _thought Naoto, rubbing her bottom as she got up.

"Otou-san!' shouted Ran, upset.

"Oh, there's another thing you should know about," spoke Megure. "The suspect, Mr. Tomaki, is, well, _was_ Ms. Hashami's boyfriend. They've been seeing each other for the past 2 months, but Mr. Tomaki suspects there might have been an affair with his former lover and another man."

"Oh really?' questioned Kogoro, walking towards Kei. "Can you tell us anymore of this affair?"

"How would I know?" asked Kei, snapping a bit. "Well, I was pretty suspicious of Akito, so I started following her around a bit, and one day, I saw her kissing with a mysterious man clothed in a long jacket. I came to her apartment today to break up with her and left."

"Aha!" said Kogoro. "Because you were mad at your former girlfriend for having an affair, you killed her!"

"No! I might not have liked her anymore, but I wasn't mad enough to kill her!"

Then, a man with short dark hair and squinted eyes entered the room. "I'm back, inspector. Was there anymore questions?"

"Yes. When did you discover the body, exactly, Mr. Torimaki?" asked Megure.

"It was around...1 I suppose. Yes, exactly! On that say, I was selling newspapers and was going door-to-door when I saw a man fleeing an apartment. I thought he must be in a hurry because he left the door half-open. Curious, I saw inside and found the woman dead! I was in shock I couldn't go inside because of the sight of the dead lady, and soon, I wanted to call the police but her phone wasn't working, so I went to a nearby apartment and asked the owners if I could borrow their cell phone."

Knowing that Kogoro might get in her way again, Naoto rushed over and kicked him in the shin before turning to the witness, Hinato, ignoring Kogoro hopping up and down on one leg. "Mr., why didn't you use your own cell phone?"

"Oh, that's easy. I accidentally left it back home."

"Ran!" Kogoro picked up Naoto by the back of her jacket again and dumped her into Ran's arms before walking back to the witness and suspect.

"Don't worry, Naoto-chan. I'm sure otou-san will solve this case, like Shinichi would," assured Ran, hugging Naoto's waist gently, but tightly.

"Neh, Ran-neechan? Does it take at least 2 hours to get over shock?" asked Naoto, loud enough for Kogoro, the witness, suspect, and Megure to hear.

"It depends on the situation. Why?"

"Because isn't it strange that Torimaki-san found the body at 1, but the dead lady was killed at 3?"

Kogoro and the others seemed to have realized that as well and turned to the suspect, who was sweating a bit. "That is strange," said Megure. "Torimaki-san, why were you so certain of finding the body at around 1?"

"Oh, that's simple!" laughed Hinato. "It's because I saw the murder weapon, the heavy alarm clock! It clearly said something around 1, so I assumed that was the case! So sorry for the misunderstanding!"

"Hmm..." Naoto jumped from Ran's arms and wandered around until she saw the bloody alarm clock in a small plastic bag, being held by some CSI investigators. "Ooh! Ooh! Can I play with this?" She grabbed the bag and secretly pressed one of the buttons.

**"It's 6: 35 P.M." **

"Oh wow! It talks!" said Naoto cheerfully. She thought, _'And that's a strange way to announce the time. Guess it's one of those alarm clocks that automatically speak the time.' _

"Hey, kid! This isn't a toy, but run along," said one of the CSI investigators, taking it back.

_'Oh well, at least I know the t-wait a minute!' _thought Naoto, glancing at her watch. _'No way...it can't be, can it?' _

"I think we've heard enough!' declared Kogoro, pointing to Kei. "You're obviously the killer!"

"Even I have to agree with Mouri-san with this," agreed Megure. "You'll have to go downtown with me."

"No!" cried out Kei. "It wasn't me! I swear!"

_'Hope this works!' _Naoto pressed a button on her wristwatch, springing up the small glass target as she tried to aim for Kogoro's neck. She clicked on her watch, and a small, invisible dart popped out, making Kogoro droozy before he fell down in a couch with his head down. Naoto hid behind the couch and tried to get the correct frequency and pitch on her blue voice-changing bowtie right.

**"Wait! I know who did it!"** said Naoto in a squeaky chipmunk voice.

"W-what?" asked Megure, startled as Naoto panicked and tried to change the voice dial.

**"Uh...I mean, I know who did it!"** corrected Naoto, now sounding like Kogoro.** "The true murderer is Hinato Torimaki himself!"**

Everyone turned to the so-called witness, who was shocked. "But you said it was Kei Tomaki who did it!"

**"Y-yeah, my bad,"** spoke Naoto, still sounding like the sleeping detective. **"Anyways, Torimaki-san lied to everyone here about the time! The only way he could have known the time when he 'found' her body was when he had to have hold the murder weapon in his hands! Yet, he already said that he never went to the apartment! He knew the time, because he went into the apartment and killed her."**

"Oh yeah? Prove it! Prove that I killed her!" challenged Hinato.

**"Oh, I'll do that alright! You struck her with the clock, and the shock of the blow triggered the clock's voice! For instant, could somebody get the murder weapon, please?"**

Immediantly, one of the CSI investigators rushed over with the bloody alarm clock in the bag. "Right here, sir."

**"Good, now just press the button on the alarm clock, and let's listen carefully."**

After the CSI investigator did as he was told, everyone became silent and listened carefully. **"It's 6:45 P.M." **

"Whoa! That's an amazing clock!" said Megure, impressed.

**"Right,"** said Naoto, still impersonating Kogoro. **"Inspector, what time is it really? Please check your watch." **

Confused, Megure glanced at his watch. "It's 8:45. Wait, what?!"

**"Exactly. This alarm clock is exactly 2 hours late. Why? Because it's broken because of the impact the killer used to hit the victim with. Torimaki-san, I bet when you hit the lady on the head, you must have triggered the alarm clock, thus remembering the time it automatically spoke. That's why you were so certain about the time, but you made a careless mistake. You should have bought a watch when you murdered her instead of relying on a broken clock." **

"But, detective," spoke Hinato. "How do you know it was running two hours late? It could have been that way yesterday, or for a few weeks. And besides, I saw Tomaki-san stepping out of the apartment, so he's the killer regarless of the time."

Naoto only smirked. **"Torimaki-san, you made a terrible mistake by saying that. In fact, you just given me proof that you're the killer. If Tomaki-san really was the killer, you shouldn't have heard the time from the murder weapon. But you already confessed you did, therefore, you were inside, ergo, you killed her! The only way you would know the time would be from the alarm clock, so when you smashed the victim's head, you activated the alarm." **

"Grrr! Why?! Why'd you do it?" demanded Kei, grabbing Hinato's collar. "She might have been my ex-girlfriend, but I still cared for her!"

"Are you kidding? Of course I had good reason too! In fact, I'm the one who's been dating her behind your back!"

_'Whoa, this is interesting,' _thought Naoto, blinking in surprise. _'So these are what confessions are in real life.' _

"So you're the one who started that affair?" asked Megure.

"So you did her in because you found out she was dating me? Well, you shouldn't because I broke up with her!"

Hinato explained, "You idiot! I was dating her way before you! And then, she started an affair with you, and she planned to dump me for you! After she did, I got so angry, but then I saw you leaving the apartment today and decided to frame you for her murder!"

"I've heard enough! Cuff him, boys," said Megure before Hinato was being lead away.

Naoto sighed in relief, happy that she solved the case when Kogoro started to wake up. "Huh...? What just happened?"

"Mouri-kun!" cried out Megure happily. "You did a great job! I have some newfound respect for you now!"

"I did...? I did! Yeah! Hahahaha!"

_'Yeah...sure. But at long as the case is solved, I'm happy,' _thought Naoto.

* * *

_A few nights later... _

_'Shinichi...he's been missing for a week now,' _thought Ran, sadly looking down and sitting in the couch of her home. _'Something bad must have happened, but please, come back home, Shinichi!' _

**RING! RING! **Ran glanced up and saw the telephone ringing, and since Kogoro was asleep, only Ran could answer it. "Yes, Mouri's Detective Age-"

"_**Ran!"**_Ran gasped when the person on the other line was Shinichi. **_"It's me, Shinichi!"_ **

"Shinichi?" Ran's eyes began to whelm up with tears.

**_"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're crying!"_ **

"N-no! Who would cry for you? But, where are you and Saeko?"

**_"Well, I couldn't just leave Saeko alone, so I brought her along with me with a difficult case. When it's done, I'll come back,"_** the real Naoto spoke, speaking through a telephone booth outside the Mouri Detective Agency with her voice-changing bowtie. **_"So, don't worry about us, we'll be fine. But, we'll have to speak quietly. Saeko is asleep. Shhh."_**

As Naoto was speaking as Shinichi towards a happy Ran, she began to feel regret and sadness. She knew the real Shinichi would never return, but she made a promise to herself that once the men in black were put to jail, she would tell Ran the truth, even if it means her hating her.

* * *

**Hello, folks! I plan to keep the poll in my profile up until chapter 10, I think, so make your decisions! Any case ideas? Read and review!**


	4. Case of the Haunted Mansion

**Alright! I got some episode requests! Before I can do them, though, I have to do this one chapter before I can do anything else, and that's introducing...first grade!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Everyone, we have a new student today!' welcomed the first grade teacher, addressing to Naoto, who was standing in front of the classroom. "Please welcome Naoto Edogawa!"

Naoto had never experienced being at school because she was taught by Agasa all her life, so she was probably smarter than the kids in her class, and probably in her school, given her high IQ. But at the same time, she didn't know what school was like, so she was a little shy.

The 7-year old new girl shyly waved at the class. "I'm Naoto...hello."

All of the boys, if not a lot, squealed and whispered things about the new girl being pretty or cute, making Naoto turn red at the comments. Was this what all schoolboys acted at school? Her brother did tell her to be careful of boys in the future for a reason.

"Naoto, please sit next to Ayumi," advised the teacher. "Ayumi-chan? Where are you? Can you raise your hand?"

"Right here!' called out Ayumi, raising her hand. After Naoto sat down next to her, the girl whispered, "I'm Ayumi Yoshida, nice to meet you, Naoto-chan!"

Naoto nodded. "Mmm hmm."

Mitsuhiko and Genta, who were sitting next to Ayumi, thought, _'Wow, I'm close to the new girl! And she's cute!'_

* * *

_Shinichi, who was on the clouds, bored out of his mind, was spying on his little sister, Saeko, who's fake name is now Naoto Edogawa. He was proud that she was finally enrolled in school, but hissed in anger when he heard and saw all of the boys leering at Saeko with happy expressions on their faces, indicating they all like her._

_The dead teenage detective cracked his knuckles loudly, glaring down with an evil look on his face. If he was still alive, he would be missing class so he would attend Naoto's first day as a bodyguard and as her overprotective brother. There was no way in HELL he was letting these...these BOYS take advantage of his little sis, even if he is dead._

_If those boys ever try to lay a finger or try to get in touch with Naoto, he will literally haunt their nightmares for who knows how long._

* * *

At lunchtime, Naoto had to admit, class was way too easy. She knew all the answers, but she didn't want to attract too much attention to herself, so she answered only when she was called from the teacher. Ayumi was nice to her and for some strange reason, sometimes, the boys kept staring at her, some of them were drooling or just blushing, thus getting them in trouble.

"Naoto-chan! Naoto-chan! Do you wanna sit with us?" asked Ayumi, waving to her. Genta and Mitsuhiko seemed to have agreed and started waving at her with grins on their faces.

Naoto nodded, unpacking her small lunchbox to eat with Ayumi and the other two boys. "Um...who are those two boys?"

Quickly, Genta and Mitsuhiko tried to introduce themselves. "Hi I'm Genta!/Hello, my name is Mitsuhiko!"

"Nice to meet you, Genta and Mitsuhiko!" said Naoto politely. "My name's Naoto Edogawa, nice to meet you!"

_'Wow! She's so polite and cute!' _thought Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi.

After school, all four of them were playing a game of soccer, but it was starting to get dark and the skies were starting to get cloudy. Ayumi and Naoto were on one team, and Genta and Mitsuhiko were on the other, much to their dislike.

"I got it! I got it!" cried out Genta and Mitsuhiko, trying to reach the ball after Naoto kicked it. Both of them kicked the same ball at the same time, ut they kicked too hard because it started flying very far away into the streets.

"Um...where's the ball?" wondered Ayumi.

"Oh, great job Genta!" said Mitsuhiko. "Now thanks to you, the ball went flying!"

"My fault?! If anything, you kicked it too hard! Now thanks to your dumb butt, we probably have to walk a mile to get the ball!"

"It's both your fault," said Naoto, annoyed. "You two kicked at the same time."

Mitsuhiko and Genta looked sad. "We're sorry."

"How about we go get the ball?" suggested Ayumi. Soon, they discovered a hole in a window of a dark-looking mansion that seemed fit enough to be a haunted mansion from the movies or scary stories.

"Ugh! It took us forever!" complained Genta.

'Well, at least we found the ball," said Mitsuhiko. "Let's just go and ask the owners of this house if we can have our ball back."

"Uh...I have a bad feeling about this place," said Naoto, examining the dark mansion up and down.

"Whatever! I'm gonna go to the door!" said Genta, walking up to the door and pressing the door bell while knocking on the door several times. "Open up! Open up! Hello?"

This kept on going for at least a minute until Naoto spoke up. "Genta, I don't think anyone's home. You just keep knocking on the door and ringing it and no one's going to answer."

"No, I got this!"

Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Naoto waited patiently and looking annoyed as they watched Genta attempt to call out the owners of the house for the past 5 minutes. They already knew that the owners were not home, yet Genta kept being stubborn.

Naoto sighed and gently pushed Genta aside. "Here, this is how it's done." She rang the doorbell once and waited, but as expected, no one came.

Then, thunder cracked in the skies and heavy rain began pouring down, surprising the four kids and making them drenched from head to toe. "Aw great! Now we're wet!" complained Ayumi as the kids tried to find shelter to hide in.

Naoto knew there wasn't any other choice and tried to open the door. Surprisingly, it unlocked, allowing entrance for the kids. "Alright! Let's go in! I'm freezing!" cheered Mitsuhiko. It didn't take long for them to change their minds and rush inside before shutting the door.

"Oh no! I just remembered something!" cried out Mitsuhiko as they all gathered around as a group. "I heard that this mansion might have a ghost!"

"A ghost?!" shouted both Ayumi and Genta, startled.

Naoto yawned and looked slightly annoyed. "Ghosts don't exist. They're just rumors."

"W-well they can be! Besides, I've heard this house has been abandoned for years!"

"Maybe we should find a light or something. It's getting pretty dark," said Ayumi, moving around to find some sort of light switch.

"Ayumi, I don't think-" Before Naoto could finish her sentence, Ayumi flipped the switch on, bringing lights to the room and giving a good descriptive of the room. There was a hallway down, and on the left happened to be a small kitchen.

"Hurray! We found food! I'm starvin'!" cheered Genta as he rushed towards the refrigerator in the kitchen.

_'That's strange. Why would the lights be working if the house was supposedly abandoned for so long?' _thought Naoto, examining around. _'There's a lot of dust around and even dust bunnies, and you'd think the owners would clean things up.' _

"Oh wow! Food!" cheered Mitsuhiko.

"Uh...guys? We don't even know how long that's been there," warned Naoto as Genta and the others grabbed some food.

"Who cares? I'm eating this cake!" said Genta before gobbling it down hungrily.

"Strawberry! My favorite!" cheered Ayumi, licking her strawberry popsicle.

"Do you want one, Naoto?" asked Mitsuhiko, offering a cupcake to her.

After hearing her stomach grumble, Naoto accepted the cupcake and carefully took a bite, only to find the cupcake was fresh and cold. _'That's strange. I'd understand if its appearance wasn't greenish or turning sick, but when I tasted it, it's like it was new! What's going on?' _

"Hey, guys?" announced Naoto. "Don't you find it strange that an abandoned home still have electricity and fresh food? An abandoned home wouldn't have such things."

"Maybe the real owners are at vacation," suggested Ayumi, still licking her ice cream.

"But why would the owners make this house too dusty and dirty? They would clean it up like any normal person."

"You know what?" suggested Mitsuhiko after finishing his cupcake. "We should totally explore and investigate this house! I think something's strange too, do you think?"

"Well, when you put it that way, okay!" agreed Ayumi.

"Then it's settled!" declared Genta. "From this day forward, we shall be known as the Detective Boys, with the leader being me!"

"Yeah!" cheered Ayumi and Mitsuhiko.

_'Why Detective Boys? It's me and Ayumi as the only girls!' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping.

"Let us go on forward!" With that said, Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko took their first steps forward, but stopped. "Uh..."

Naoto fell down anime-style, dumbfounded. _'They don't even know where to begin looking!' _she thought.

Suddenly, thunder roared outside, and the lights went out, sending Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi in a panic. They heard a loud thud fall to the ground, making Naoto worry as Ayumi and Mitsuhiko began screaming and running around. Quickly, Naoto tried to search for a flashlight or something to light things up.

_'Shoot! I heard a loud noise! What if Ayumi-chan or the others got hurt?' _Naoto tried to touch things around and felt a drawer before opening it up and searching for anything when she felt some small and metal and flipped off the top with her hands. Accidentally, she pressed a button, and a small fire lit up. _'Wait, a lighter? Now this is getting suspicious!' _

Ayumi and Mitsuhiko rushed towards the small fire, relieved. "Oh good! I was afraid we might get lost!" sighed Mitsuhiko.

"Uh...where's Genta?" asked Naoto.

Ayumi gasped. "You're right! He's gone! Genta! Genta!"

Genta rushed over, panting. "I'm here! I didn't faint like a pansy! No siree!"

_'Yeah, right. So that explains the loud thud from earlier,' _thought Naoto, annoyed. "How about we all explore the mansion together as a group? That way we can get things easier!"

Soon, they searched around the mansion, but nobody was home, although there were some things that interested Naoto, like how there were some new clean shoes in one room, or how the bed was neatly arranged.

They arrived on the top level of the last room, where there happened to be a huge room with a large bed and a baby crib. Naoto found a candle and lit it, bringing a bit of light into the room. "I think we have to sleep here for tonight."

Ayumi grabbed Naoto's arm and jumped into the bed. "Me and Naoto will take the bed!"

"Hey! What about us?" complained Mitsuhiko.

"You can sleep in the crib!"

"The crib?"

"If you want, you can switch with me," suggested Naoto.

Being the kind gentleman he is, Mitsuhiko shook his head and started climbing towards the crib. "No, it's fine! At least it's better than the ground!"

"Where am I supposed to sleep?" asked Genta.

"Well," started Naoto. "There is always the ground. But I think there's enough room in the crib."

"Well, at least it's better than the ground." Genta turned and started climbing up the crib, ignoring Mitsuhiko's protests.

"H-hey wait! Don't just-you're heavy!"

"No way! You're just in the way!"

"Ugh! Now I'm squished!"

_'If anyone else heard that, they'd be getting the wrong idea,' _thought Naoto. _'Maybe it wasn't a good idea to put them together.' _

Genta and Mitsuhiko were squished together inside the baby crib, trying to get some sleep despite being uncomfortable. It was a wonder why the crib didn't collapse. Genta stood up and climbed over the crib. "Where are you going?" asked Mitsuhiko.

"I'm hungry."

_'You just ate, fatass!' _Naoto wanted to say, but due to it being rude, she kept her mouth shut. She sighed and turned on the lighter. "I'll escort Genta, and you two can stay here. We'll bring some food with us."

A couple minutes later, when arriving down, they were about to enter the kitchen when they saw some more light in the other room. Naoto motioned Genta to be quiet, and he nodded before the two of them began to sneak towards the room, which the door leading to it was half closed.

Inside, three men in white suits were sitting in a table with candles providing as light. _'What are those strangers doing here?' _thought Naoto suspiciously.

One of them said, "How long are we gonna use this old dump, huh? We need to work on the operation soon!"

"I know, I know! The operation will start tommorow. We'll force our captives in that secret room to play the robbers and make them rob the bank, then kill them. I know how it goes."

"You sure you have the key?"

"Of course! Right here!" The blond-haired man held up a key, interesting Naoto.

_'Wait, there was a room that was locked. I thought nothing of it, but could it be that the captives are in that room?' _thought Naoto, now determined to get that key.

"What do we do with the house?" asked one of the men in white.

"That's simple. We burn it to the ground afterwards and kill the captives with it, like when we killed those owners and their baby."

_'Those jerks! They must have killed the true owners of this house and even a poor baby!' _thought Naoto, disgusted. She turned to Genta and whispered, "Genta! We have to go back to Mitsuhiko and Ayumi and warn them!"

"W-what? Oh, right!" Startled, Genta and Naoto rushed back to where Ayumi and Mitsuhiko were as fast and quietly as they could.

Once they arrived, they quickly shut the door and cried out, "Ayumi! Mitsuhiko! Wake up! Quickly!"

Tiredily, both of them woke up, rubbing their eyes. "What's...wrong?" asked Ayumi.

As quickly as they could, Genta and Naoto explained what was going on, shocking the two. "What?! There are bad guys here?" exclaimed Mitsuhiko.

"Yes! If we don't hurry up and get the captives out, we might be next!" cried out Naoto.

"But, couldn't we just wait?" wondered Ayumi. "I mean, we should hide until the morning, and when they're gone, we can go and call the police."

Naoto shook her head. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. They plan to force the captives to rob a bank for them then kill them by burning them in this mansion!"

"WHAT?!"

"Look," started Genta. "Would you rather go and escape in the cold night or stay here and get burned, because I sure don't wanna!"

"Okay, what if we escape, then come back to the mansion with the police?" suggested Mitsuhiko.

"Because if we do that, we'll have to leave the captives, and the bad guys will use them as captives to get away!" said Naoto. "We have to free them first, then take them to the police!"

"How do you plan to get the key? One of them already has them!' reminded Genta.

"Alright, we'll have to split into two groups then!" decided Naoto. "Genta and Ayumi-chan, you guys will have to escape and go to the police! Me and Mitsuhiko will have to stay here and get the key before we can leave! That okay, Mitsuhiko?"

"Y-yeah! Don't worry! I'll do my best!' assured Mitsuhiko, blushing.

"Then, let's go, Detective Boys!"

"YEAH!"

_'Wow, I can't believe I'm doing this. Then again, it has been a lot of fun,' _thought Naoto as she and Mitsuhiko split up with Ayumi and Genta. Naoto and Mitsuhiko managed to get near the door that lead to where the men were, while Genta and Ayumi were trying to find a way out without alerting the bad guys.

Naoto peeked from her position and saw the three men playing cards. _'I can only hit one of them, so I'm choosing him!' _thought Naoto before shooting a dart from her wristwatch. The dart landed on the blond-haired man's neck, and he quickly fell asleep.

Quickly, Naoto tried to mimic his voice with her voice-changing bowtie and said, **"I'm tired...gonna sleep..." **

"Oh, he's just asleep," shrugged one of the men. "Yeah, maybe I should catch some shut-eye too. Good night."

"Yeah, goodnight," said the other man as he and his partner left the room, leaving the poor sleeping man at the table. As soon as they were gone, Naoto and Mitsuhiko rushed towards the sleeping man and took his keys from his pocket.

"AAAAAAHHH!"

"Hey! Where the hell did you kids come from?"

_'Oh no!' _thought Naoto before she and Mitsuhiko rushed to what happened. Ayumi and Genta were caught by the other two men in white and being interrogated.

Naoto threw the keys towards Ayumi, who luckily caught them. "Run! Go and find the captives! Hurry!"

"What?! More of them?!" shouted one of the men in white, shocked as Ayumi and Genta made a run for it. "Hey, stop!" One of them chased after the two kids while the other man stayed for Naoto and Mitsuhiko.

"Now, now...just be good little kids, and-" The man stopped when Mitsuhiko stood in front of Naoto and held out a lighter.

"Stop! I have a lighter, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Yeah, right! Like a lighter is supposed to scare me!"

Mitsuhiko smirked. "What if I drop it? Then the whole mansion would catch on fire!"

"Uh..." The man in white took out a gun, freaking out Naoto and Mitsuhiko. "Gimme the lighter!"

"Not so fast! You wanna shoot her, you're going to have to shoot me first! But if you shoot me, I drop the lighter, and everything burns!"

"No, I'll just shoot you and the lighter won't fall to the ground, it'll land on the side!"

"How do you know?!"

Naoto sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

_Meanwhile, with Genta and Ayumi... _

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" both kids screamed as they were being chased by the man.

"Get back here you little runts!"

Genta knew this might be his moment to shine and win Ayumi's heart, so he turned to her and said, "A-ayumi! I'll hand this guy! Go rescue...whatever it was we needed to do!"

Ayumi nodded and rushed towards a different hallway as Genta swiftly turned around and tackled the man in white by the knees, dragging him down in surprise as they had some sort of struggle.

Then, Ayumi checked all the doors before coming towards the locked one and used the key to unlock the door. Inside, two men and a woman were found gagged and tied up, but surprised to see a little girl had opened the door as she tried to untie them.

Soon, Genta was overpowered and thrown to the ground as the man in white stood up. "That's it, brat! Now-"

Quickly, two of the captive men grabbed the man in white and managed to knock him out with a few punches to the face. "Are you alright little boy?"

"It was nothing! Wait! My friends are downstairs, facing some other guy! I wonder if they're fine."

* * *

_Meanwhile... _

"Nuh uh! It so clears!"

"No the house will not catch on fire!"

_'How long have they been at this?' _thought Naoto. For the past few minutes, she watched as Mitsuhiko and the other man in white were constantly arguing with each other about the lighter and the gun. Normally she would run off to get the police, but then again, there's a man with a GUN.

Before the man in white could say anything more, he was quickly knocked out by the captives, and soon, the men in white were tied up and had their weapons removed. Afterwards, the adults called the police and they arrested the men in white. Of course, Naoto and her friends were in trouble with their parents/Ran, but the captives supported them, luckily not getting them grounded. This was the first case solved by the Detective Boys!

* * *

**Whew! I wonder why the team is claled Detective Boys. If you ask me, the Junior Detective League sounds a lot better. I mean, Detective Boys? There's Ayumi, so how is she a Detective boy if shes a girl? Anyways, any episode requests? Alright, read and review!**


	5. An Idol's Sealed Room Murder Case

**Hello, everyone! Yay I got more reviews! Oh yeah, some parts of this chapter is gonna be from the abridged series. By the way, suntan140 requested this episode.**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, or any abridged series, only the OCs. **

* * *

Every morning was the usual. Wake up, brush teeth, eat breakfast, and go to school. So far, there weren't any news of the men in black, and Naoto had to keep on living with Ran and Kogoro. Ran was nice to her, but Kogoro was a different story.

The man might be a good person at heart, but he was seriously a terrible detective. Not to mention the fact that he drinks a lot and is very lazy. Ran practically cleans up his mess, but on the bright side, at least he's not some drunken abusive father Naoto often hears on TV or from stories. Plus, he has a crush on a popular pop star that's way too young for him. Also, he already has Ran, meaning he married before, so his wife must have died or divorced him.

One night, the doorbell rang, and Kogoro tiredily opened the door, revealing the guests to be a woman and a man. "Mouri's Detective Agency is closed for tonight." He turned around and said, "If there's anyth-" Quickly, he turned around, shocked. "Wait, would you happen to be Yoko Okino?!"

The woman claiming to be Yoko took off her hat and bowed politely. "Yes."

_'Yoko Okino? That famous pop star?' _thought Naoto, surprised._ 'The old man never shuts up about her!' _

"No way! Why would an idol come to our house?" wondered Ran, surprised.

"Well, the truth is, I have a problem."

Instantly, Kogoro rushed into the bathroom and shut the door, surprising everyone. They heard lots of noises like hair drying, but in mere seconds, he reappeared, completely clean and trying to be attractive in a pose while holding a rose. "Miss, I'd be oblidged to assist you in any way possible."

_'Moron,' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping and already embarrassed for the poor man.

* * *

"What did you say?!" exclaimed Kogoro after Yoko finished explaining. "Someone is stalking you?"

"Yes. Every time I return home, my furniture arrangement changed, and I've received many mysterious photos. And I've received many calls every day but no one's speaking!"

_'Well, if someone's stalking her, it must be because she's a famous pop idol,' _thought Naoto, thinking she's already solved the mystery.

"Ah, so you want me to beat him up, huh?" said Kogoro, glaring at his muscles.

The man who was with Yoko shook his head. "No, no, we just want you to arrest this guy."

"...Who are you?"

"I'm her manager, Yamagishi," introduced the man, handing Kogoro his business card.

Kogoro nodded in agreement before handing Yoko some papers. "Okay, just write down your phone number and address here..." He then handed Yoko some sort of portrait. "And please sign here and don't forget to put in my name."

"Of course," agreed Yoko.

Naoto eyed the papers, especially the small portrait and realized that the papers must be when Kogoro finds something, he'll contact Yoko. However, the portrait was unimportant and it didn't take her long to realize it was just a regular autograph. _'How this guy lived this long as a detective, I'll never know,' _thought Naoto.

As soon as the papers were filled, Kogoro opened the door for Yoko and Yamagishi. "Since you've hired the great detective Mouri Kogoro for this job, there should be no problem at all!"

"Can we go too? I've always wanted to see what an idol's room is like!" asked Ran. "Right, Naoto-chan?"

"H-huh?" Naoto honestly didn't want to go since she was interested, but decided why not. "Sure."

"You better not get in the way of my work, got it?" warned Kogoro.

"Hai!" Both Ran and Naoto promised before following Kogoro and the others. It took them a while, but eventually, they arrived at the building where Yoko lived.

"Oh! No wonder Yoko-san lives here!" cheered Kogoro a bit loudly.

Yamagishi panicked and walked towards Kogoro. "Not so loud! Her place here is a secret!"

"Ohhh...Shhhh!" Instead of taking the blame, Kogoro addressed Naoto and Ran to be quiet, annoying them.

_'You were the one who was talking loudly, jerk,' _thought Naoto, annoyed.

* * *

_Near Yoko's apartment... _

"Wow! This is great!" said Ran as she, Naoto, and Kogoro were admiring the view from inside the building, where there was some windows that showed the entire view of the whole city filled with lights.

Yoko managed to unlock her apartment door with her key and turned to the three admiring guests. "Come, please come inside." Once Yoko turned and entered, she sudden;y screamed in horror, alerting everyone.

"What's wrong, Yoko?" asked Yamagishi, worried. Kogoro, Ran, and Naoto rushed in the room and saw a man laying on his belly, a knife sticking out of his back and a pool of blood pouring on the floor.

Immediantly, Kogoro called for the police, and in no time at all, they began to investigate the crime scene and Ran kneeled down to Naoto. "Are you okay, Naoto-chan?"

Naoto nodded. "Yup! I'm fine!" _'Yeah right, there's a dead body!' _

"So, when you returned home, this man was already dead, right?" questioned Megure to Yoko.

"Yes."

"At that time, who was with you?"

"Me, Inspector Megure! The one and only Kogoro Mouri, sir!" said Kogoro, happily saluting.

_'Really, why did it have to be him?' _thought Megure.

"Remember the good old days when we investigated cases together, Inspector?"

"Yeah, back then, thanks to you, the cases got more difficult as we investigated further!"

As Kogoro was laughing at the comment, Naoto sweatdropped. _'I'm guessing the old man isn't very fond of the police force either. Figures.' _

"By the way, it is quite hot in here," commented Megure to Yoko. "Is the heater always on that high?"

"No, when I went out, I was sure I switched it off."

"That is strange."

"That's not the only strange thing here, Inspector," said Naoto, examining something on the floor with her magnifying glass. "Although it's faint, there are dried watermarks around the corpse." She got up and pointed to the chair. "And this chair is the only thing standing! It's so hot in here, why is that?"

"Ahem!" Naoto stopped muttering around and turned to see Megure and Kogoro glaring down at her.

"Ahahaha..." Naoto laughed nervously before trying to come up with something. "I like mysteries!"

"Nice try, kid!" said Kogoro before punching her in the head, not hesitating to do so.

"Ow!" Naoto glared at Kogoro as he walked away. _'Oh, you are so going to get your payback, I promise, old man.' _

Megure walked up to the CSI investigators who were currently examining and studying the dead man's body. "Did you find the cause of death yet?"

One of the answered, "Yes, the cause of death happened to be the fatal blow of the knife sticking out of the man's back."

Megure turned to Yoko. "Is the knife yours?"

"Y-yes."

"Are you suspecting Yoko?" asked Yamagishi.

"Have you seen the victim before?" questioned Megure.

"...We need to get closer, for a better look," decided Yamagishi. As Yamagishi and Yoko walked towards the dead man's body, Yamagishi accidentally slipped on the pool of blood and landed on top of the victim before scrambling away. But Naoto noticed something slightly off.

"Watch your step."

"R-right," said Yamagishi, standing up, frightened. "I'm sorry, but we don't know this person. Right, Yoko?"

"Yes."

Naoto knew her eyes weren't telling lies. She could have sworn she saw Yamagishi snatch something from the victim's hand. The question was, what, and why?

Just then, she noticed Yamagishi place the item he had took to his pocket, but saw a strand of it fall to the ground. Naoto ran over to where the strand landed and caught it with her foot, attracting attention. "Ahaha, I'm just playing!"

While the adults divert their attention back to the victim's body, Naoto picked up the strand she caught with her foot and ran to a different area to examine it. _'Hair? Why would the manager want to hide this? It's most likely the killer's, but could it be...?' _

"Usually, when a person is killed in a sealed room, the criminal tends to be the owner of that room," explained Megure.

'How can that be?! How can I kill someone?!" exclaimed Yoko.

"Yeah, Inspector Megure! You can't make conclusions this early!" agreed Kogoro.

_'You're only saying that because you like Okino-san,' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping before examining more of the hair. She sighed and walked towards Yoko. "Neh, Okino-san? Is is possible you leave spare keys?"

"Well, I did leave a spare set for my manager," revealed Yoko.

"I get it now! Yamagishi! You are the killer!" declared Kogoro, pointing to the shocked Yamagishi before grabbing his jacket collar. "Yamagishi, you must have been dumped by Yoko-san, so you wanted revenge!"

"Hey, hey! What evidence do you have that Yoko is innocent?" asked Megure.

"Oh come on! Yoko-san is kind and helpful to others! How can she be the murderer?~"

"Oh, really?"

_'Baka,' _thought Naoto, more annoyed.

"It's true, I did have the spare key," explained Yamagishi. "But I lost it about 2 or 3 days ago."

'Don't lie" scolded Kogoro.

"I'm not lying! In the break room of the TV company, I lost it there!"

"It's true! He's telling the truth!" supported Yoko.

"Uh...well, even if Yoko-san says that..."

_'Oh, who's making early conclusions now? Next time, try to gather more information before openly accusing someone!' _thought Naoto, shaking her head in disbelief before going around and examining things. Eventually, she found an earring under a couch.

"Hey! Hey! Inspector!" called out Naoto, tugging onto Megure's coat. "There's something under the couch!"

"Beat it, kid!" shouted Kogoro, annoying Naoto as she walked away.

_'Sometimes I hate being a kid,' _she thought before realizing something. _'Oh yeah! I can use my voice changing bowtie!' _

She hid behind the couch and took out her voice-changing bowtie before deciding to test it out a bit. She put it in a deep voice and started making soft, but deep breaths. **"Inspector, join us to the dark side. We have cookies! They're under this couch!" **

"Uh...did anyone just hear my name? And did that voice come from Darth Vader?" wondered Megure, looking around.

Naoto snickered before getting serious and trying to change the voice. _'Alright, no more messing around. Time to do this!' _**"Inspector! The kid's right! There's something under the couch!" **

Megure got on his knees and glanced down before taking the earring with a napkin. "What is this?"

"That's Yuuko-san's!" gasped Yoko.

"Yuuko-san?"

"She became a star around the same time as me. Her name is Yuuko Ikezawa."

"Oh yes!" said Yamagishi, remembering her. "Because Yoko got to be the main actress in a long drama, Yuuko hated her!"

"Well that settles it then! The killer is Yuuko! Go get her!" Kogoro commanded several police officers.

"Yeah, what he said. But treat her as a suspect for now," ordered Megure before they were left to do their duties.

Kogoro and Megure both thought of different killers and different reasons why, but Naoto was the only one in the trio who might have thought in the right path, like Yamagishi's strange reactions and the markings around the room.

"You've got to be kidding me!" shouted Yuuko, later when she arrived at the apartment. "You brought me here because my rival killed someone? You assholes! It's obvious Yoko's the killer! And besides, this is the first time I've been here, so the murder's got nothing to do with me!"

"Then why is your earring here?" questioned Kogoro, taking out the earring which happened to be in a bag for safe keeping.

"How should I know? Maybe Yoko stoled it!"

"It's not just the earring," continued Kogoro. "The security guard said that he saw a person who looked like you came in here before!"

"That was probably Yoko! But then again, that person could have looked like me! SOrry, let me use the toilet," said Yuuko, going towards the bathroom.

"Wait! I'm not done talking to you yet!' shouted Kogoro.

"Man, shut up!" yelled Yuuko rudely. "Based on that earring, you're accusing me as the criminal? I'm a very busy woman!"

Everyone was stunned by this sudden outburst, even Naoto. _'Damn, she's short-tempered!' _

Yuuko then taunted in Yoko's face. "Well, maybe not as busy as the famous Yoko-san! But, if the press learns of this, then your popularity will go down! And maybe then, you'll have lots of free time!"

As Yuuko walked away laughing, Kogoro was swearing loudly, cursing Yuuko. Naoto noticed something, that both Yuuko and Yoko looked exactly the same from behind. As Yuuko turned on the lights and entered the bathroom, that also puzzled her. How did she know where the bathroom was?

"Hey, I got something!" announced Naoto.

"You annoying brat!" yelled Kogoro, fed up with Naoto, and making her ticked off as well. "If you don't shut up, I'm gonna-" Angrily, Naoto kicked the shin of his skin so hard, his scream was practically heard all over the building. "Why you little-!" Naoto ended up being chased by an angry Kogoro, but it was well worth it.

"Otou-san!" scolded Ran, picking up Naoto by the waist, making Kogoro 'hmph' and walked away. "Naoto-chan, you shouldn't disturb otou-san. If Shinichi was here, with all these kinds of cases, he'd solve them easily."

Naoto began to feel bad the more Ran mentioned Shinichi. It was bad enough she was there to witness his death, but mentioning him like there was killing her on the inside.

As soon as Yuuko got out of the bathroom, she was still being interrogated by the inspector as she got out a cigarette. "How many times do I have to say it before you understand? I haven't been here before!"

When Yuuko grabbed a lighter that looked a lot like the Statue of Liberty and used the fire on her cigarette, that caught Naoto's eye. "Wow, that's neat lighter!" said Naoto, grabbing it from the table and playing with it. "How did you know how to use it if you haven't been here before?"

Yuuko let out of gasp of surprise as Kogoro and Megure also noticed. "The kid has a point, how did you know?" questioned Megure to a distraught Yuuko.

"I...my friend has one similar to it."

"Which friend?"

"Um..."

"Nee, Okino-san! Where's the bathroom? This is my first time here!" said Naoto, tugging onto Yoko's arm.

"Oh, it's down the hallway."

"Wait a minute, you knew where the bathroom was too!" accused Kogoro. "That means that you, Yuuko Ikezawa, are the real murderer! You wanted to frame Yoko-san, so you killed that man in this room!"

"No, you're wrong, I did come in here, but I didn't kill him!" cried out Yuuko, frightened. "That man...he attacked me, so I fought back in self-defense! It's true, I did come in here using the key I found in the break room. I was...looking for some stuff to start a scandal. But when I came here today, that man was right behind me! At that time, I fought with everything I had and escaped."

"And then you stabbed him!" concluded Kogoro.

"I just said I didn't kill him!"

"Inspector!" shouted a policeman. "We've identified the dead man. He's Fujie Akiyoshi, age 22, and graduated from Kounan High School and worked in Kakubeni Industry."

"Kounan High School? Isn't that the same high school Yoko-san went to?" wondered Kogoro.

"T-that's just a coincidence! Right, Yoko-san?" replied Yamagishi.

"I...I know him!' cried out Yoko. "Not only that, but he was my boyfriend in high school!"

"Yoko!"

"I'm sorry, Yamagishi-san, but I can't hide it anymore!"

"Would it be that you wanted to end your past relationship with him?" wondered Megure.

"No, actually _he_ broke up with me."

_'Who's the killer then?' _thought Naoto a bit frustrated. _'The suspects are Yoko Okino, Yuuko Ikezawa, and that manager, Yamagishi! Damnit, what seems to be missing?' _She then noticed a small dent in the floor and knew full well the room was messy except for the chair. _'Also, the temperature's too high, and there were watermarks and he was holding hair! Wait, could it really be something that simple? If my theory's correct, this mystery is solved!' _

"The criminal is you, Yamagishi!" declared Kogoro.

_'No, no! He's not the killer!' _thought Naoto.

"If the dead man were exposed to the public, Yoko-san's reputation would be ruined, so you had to get rid of him while he was still alive. At the time, you bumped into him and killed him when he was trespassing!"

_'Sorry old man! ...Not!' _thought Naoto mischeviously as she pressed the dart button on her wristwatch, watching Kogoro stumble back and fall asleep. _'Alright, now to set this up...' _

**"I know who did it!" **declared Naoto, only in a squeaky voice. _'Oops!' _

Megure was sure his ears didn't work well today as he rubbed them. "W-what was that?"

Naoto quickly tried to adjust the tone dials correctly and spoke in Kogoro's tone luckily. **"I mean, I know who did it! Yamagishi, if you were the murderer and wanted us to find the corpse, you would have asked me to investigate, and then you'd provide evidence to prove your innocence. Yoko-san, the same goes for you. That's because the first person to be suspected has to be the owner." **

"Then the murderer is Yuuko Ikezawa?!" exclaimed Megure.

"What?!"

**"No, not her either. If the criminal killed him by mistake, she wouldn't have said she met that man before. Further more, if she killed him accidentally, the knife would be in his chest, not in his back. There is no direct evidence proving that any of these people are the culprits. But there are other pieces of evidence that can prove otherwise! Yamagishi, you pretended to fall and took the chance to take hair from the victim's hand." **

"So you're the killer!" shouted Megure, grabbing Yamagishi.

**"No, not him. The person who was stabbed at the back was holding onto the murderer's hair. Don't you find that suspicious? The criminal's plan was to make people believe she did it! It was to make Yoko-san guilty of the crime!" **

"A scheme to make people believe she did it?"

**"Yes, the true criminal...is the victim himself!" **

"Wait, a suicide?! How can anyone stab themselves in the back?!" shouted Megure, not believing this.

**"Actually, it's possible with a block of ice and a knife sticking out of it. After setting the heater to a high temperature, and taking some hair from Yoko-san's comb, he stands on the chair, aims for the knife that's on the ice block and then jumps back before dying. On the floor near the corpse, there's a dent made from the knife. The scattered pieces of ice would soon be melted by the high temperature. Also, I think Yamagishi saw the hair in the corpse's hand, and he thought Yoko-san did it, so he hid it." **

"But Mouri," started Megure. "The victim landed on his stomach after falling towards the knife!"

**"He probably just flopped over or something."**

"But-!"

**"DO NOT QUESTION MY SUPER SLEUTH SKILLS!" **added Naoto. _'Okay, maybe that wasn't neccessary.' _

"But why would Fujie-kun do such a thing?" wondered Yoko.

**"I guess because he was still in love with you. Haven't you noticed? You and Yuuko-san look similar from the back, so he mistook Yuuko-san for you. I think he wanted to talk to you. But rejection was the last hope for him. In the end, he felt hopeless and killed himself." **

"But I don't understand! He broke up with me!"

"No, Yoko," said Yamagishi sadly. "I...asked him to break up with you. For your career."

"But...how could you?"

"Inspector!" said a policeman. "We found a diary in the deceased's home!"

The inspector started reading all about Fujie's diary, which revealed how depressed he was after he broke up with Yoko. He wanted to have her back, even if it meant ruining her career. He last said that he wanted to at least talk to her.

Megure closed the diary. "So in the end, due to a lie, a misunderstanding, and a coincidence, this became a sad ending."

A few minutes later, Kogoro, who was asleep, woke up due to his cigarette but burning his pants. "Waaaah!"

"Mouri-kun! It's just like your deduction!" exclaimed Megure happily. "I have no respect for you now!"

"Huh?"

"Man, I'm tired," sighed Naoto, rubbing sweat off her face as Ran watched her curiously.

* * *

**I finished this early because I worked on it last night. Anyways, any cases you guys created? Or any ideas for the story? Read and review!**


	6. The Bullet Train Bombing Case

**By the way folks, this chapter will contain some abridged parts as well just to add humor! So, yeah!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, or the abridged series, only the OCs! **

* * *

Kogoro grunted slightly as he was shaving his hair on his chin off with a shaver, not noticing his two companions, Ran, who was sitting across him, and Naoto who was sitting next to her and eating something.

"I don't think there's anyone who would shave on the train on the day of his friend's wedding," commented Ran.

"I can't help it, okay? I was up late last night talking with a client!"

Ran narrowed her eyes. "You got drunk and slept near the doorway!"

Kogoro turned away. "Hmph! And to think I let you come along because you were bugging me!"

"But the wedding ceremony is in Kyoto, right?" said Ran happily. "Don't you want to go to, Naoto-chan?"

'Huh?" Naoto glanced from her food and nodded.

"And why the hell are we bringing her along anyways?" asked Kogoro, still trying to get his tie together.

"What, you want to leave her behind all alone?" Ran turned to Naoto and looked surprised at her sneakers. "Oh! You got a new pair of shoes!"

"Yup! Professor Agasa gave them to me!" chirped Naoto. She thought back and remembered the two new inventions the Hakase gave her, which consister of new power-enhancing kick shoes which allow her to kick with tremendous power, and a little spy-used earphone installed in her new glasses.

"Yay!" cheered Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko as they ran across the hallway and started to jump up and down on their seats.

"But why do they have to come too?" complained Kogoro.

"It doesn't matter!" scolded Ran, tightening her father's tie. "Their parents already paid for their tickets for this trip."

"Jeez! What's gotten into parents nowadays?"

_'You're one to talk, old geezer,' _thought Naoto, still eating her bento box.

Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta rushed towards Naoto's seat and started tugging on her arm. 'Naoto-chan! Let's go on an adventure!"

"Yay! Race ya!" cheered Genta as he and his other friends ran out into a different area.

"Man, their parents are weird," said Kogoro before turning to Naoto. "But this kid's parents are even weirder! They never even sent a single phone call."

Naoto quickly wanted to avoid this conversation so she jumped out of her seat. "I'm going to the bathroom!" As she ran, she was about to go to the next train, but then, the door automatically opened, and she was shocked and a bit scared to see two men in black walking past her. In fact, the same men in black that killed her brother and tried to poison her.

_'It's them! The same guys who killed Shinichi-niichan!' _thought Naoto, now determined. _'This is my chance! As soon as I get the drug, I'll expose the information to the police, and arrest you guys, thus avenging Shinichi-niichan! This I sw-' _

"Naoto-chan! Come sit here like a good little girl!"

"Yes, Ran-neechan."

As soon as she was seated, Naoto kept glancing back from behind her shoulder, watching the two men in black carefully. When she saw them leaving, she jumped off her seat and quietly followed them, finding them in the dining room as she hid behind a table. _'Are they having a meeting with someone?' _she thought.

After Naoto left the dining room, she started chewing on some gum she had and thinking carefully. _'Alright, I should put the spy microphone made by Hakase under their seats. The gum should protect its existence.' _After the gum was all used up, she spit it out and hid the small microphone in the gum, wrapping it tightly.

Afterwards, she walked towards the seats where the two men in black were resorted to sit in and stuck the gum under one of the seats. "What are you doing?" demanded Ran, who saw her doing it. "Hurry up and get it out."

"I-it's nothing!"

"Really?"

"Let me see!" offered Ayumi before Ran could check it out. She pulled out the gum and took out a small wad of paper. "Naoto-chan, you shouldn't be making any trouble!"

"It's punks like you that make grown ups wants to hate me!" added Genta.

"You should wrap your gum in paper and throw it away!" advised Mitsuhiko. Ayumi folded the gum in the paper and placed it in the ashtray.

_'Wait, that's an even better spot,'_ thought Naoto impressed.

"You should learn from them, Naoto-chan!' scolded Ran before turning to the three kids. "Good job, everyone!"

"Yup! Come on!" urged Ayumi, tugging on Naoto's arm as she lead her away along with Genta and Mitsuhiko.

As soon as they reached a different area, they cornered Naoto, wanting to know something. "So, Naoto, what was that gum for?" asked Genta.

Naoto decided not to risk them and lied, "I-"

"Bored already! Let's go on another adventure!' interrupted Genta, leading the way.

"Yay!" cheered Mitsuhiko and Ayumi, following him.

_'I didn't even get to say anything!'_ Naoto thought, annoyed.

"Get out of the way, kid," ordered a male's voice. Naoto's blood froze as she turned around to face the men in black, but they were completely different from the other men in black. Their faces were different, meaning they were different people.

But, she noticed one of them was carrying a briefcase. _'Huh? I don't remember them having a briefcase before.' _

When Naoto returned to her seat, she was still suspicious of the mysterious men in black in the train for some reason. _'Oh! I remember! I'll just use the spying earphones made by Agasa!' _thought Naoto, taking off her glasses and adjusting the dial and frequency before putting them back on.

**_"Ah, I can finally smoke here! Hmm? There's something in the ashtray."_**

_'Oh no!' _thought Naoto, thinking she was caught.

One of the men in black opened the ashtray and replied, _**"Oh, it's just some gum. That was some simple trade, aniki!"**_

_**"Keep it low!"**_

_**"That's okay! I don't think anyone can hear us! Well, since we gave that case to that person, we already got 100 billion dollars. But what did you put in that case?"**_

_**"Information about gold. If that person uses that information, he can get more than 100 million dollars. Right now, that person should be at his seat, feeling satisfied, admiring his last scenery at the window. And inside that person's black briefcase is an explosion that'll trigger 10 seconds after it experiences a violent shake."** _

_'A BOMB?!' _thought Naoto, shocked.

**_"But wait, aniki! If that person drops the case on the floor-"_**

**_"No. That case has very important information to the person, so that should not happen. In addition, the bomb is set at 3:10 already. If the time comes, the person will ignite the bomb without knowing it. Then 10 seconds after that, this bullet train will be bombed into dust." _**

_'Oh man! This is bad!' _thought Naoto, now sweating. Just then, the train stopped for Nagoya, indicating the men in black's leave.

"Quick! Off the train!' hissed one of the men in black, standing up. As the men were leaving, Naoto tried to chase after them, but Ran grabbed her from behind.

"No! No! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Naoto-chan, this isn't our stop!" reasoned Ran.

Naoto gasped when the door closed automatically. _'Great! Now we're left with a train with a BOMB!' _thought Naoto freaking out. _'Wait, the person that traded with them should still be in this train. There's...40 minutes left until this train starts getting blown up, but there's a chance I can stop it! But how can I when there's hundreds of people who have similar black briefcases?' _

Naoto ran off, with Ran chasing her. Eventually, Ran lost her, and Naoto ran towards the policemen. "A bomb?!"

"Yes, there's someone carrying a bomb with him or her on this train! If we don't stop the train at a nearby station and evacuate the passengers, this train will blow up!"

'Oh, come on! Don't play a joke on us!" chuckled one of the policemen.

"Yeah, and I'm the Masked Yaiba!" With that said, both policemen started laughing.

Naoto walked away, a bit mad. _'Great, nobody believes me because I'm a kid! Now what should I do?' _

"Naoto-chan! Did something interesting happen?" asked Ayumi as she, Genta, and Mitsuhiko were waiting for her. Naoto sighed, but decided she might need their help anyways.

Several minutes later, Naoto still couldn't detect where the bombed suitcase is and thought back what the men in black mentioned in their conversation. She remembered one of them relieved to be smoking and realized that the person must not like smoking, so he's in a non-smoking car.

"Um...how many non-smoking cars are here?" wondered Naoto.

"About 8 cars!" answered Mitsuhiko.

"What, did you figure something out?" asked Genta. Naoto thougtht carefully next and remembered they mentioned something of a scenery.

"Neh, where can a person see through a scenery through his window?" asked Naoto, turning to her friends.

"From the second floor of the Green cars!" answered Mitsuhiko.

"Uh...which one of them are non-smoking?"

"I think...car no.7!"

"What's wrong? Is there a mystery?" asked Ayumi.

"Yeah, let's go there now!" cheered Genta.

"B-but it's dangerous!" said Naoto, running towards car no. 7.

"Detective Boys, let's go!" cheered the three kids, following her.

* * *

As soon as they arrived at car no. 7, the Detective Boys were following Naoto as she started walking around and investigating. So far, Naoto calculated four people in car no. 7. A man reading his newspaper, an old man, a businessman, and a woman.

Naoto decided to walk up to the businessman first, who was busy typing in his laptop. She peeked a bit at his laptop and thought, _'I've seen that before. Was it stock exchanging? And he has a gold watch. I'm guessing this guy makes a lot of money.' _"Hello sir! Can I play your computer game?"

"Beat it, kid! This isn't a game!" scolded the businessman.

"But there are all sorts of interesting shapes in the game! Are you sure it's not a computer game?"

"Annoying brat! I'm at work here, go away!"

Naoto touched the black briefcase and said, "Then, let me have the black one! I'm sure there's lots of cool games here!"

Instead, the businessman hit Naoto on the head, causing her to winch in pain and leave. The woman nearby noticed and spoke kindly, "Oh don't mind him. Are you lost?"

"Um...no, ma'am!" Naoto saw her reading a newspaper with a cell phone near her and right next to her was a briefcase. "Wow! How cool!" Naoto slid past the woman and saw the scenery of the mountains, pretending to be astonished. "That's a beautiful scenery!"

"Yes!" agreed the woman. "Because of the nice weather today, Mt. Fuji looks beautiful from here."

"Wow! ? Really?"

"Little girl, do you like Mr. Fuji?"

"Yeah! A lot!" replied Naoto, sitting right next to her, trying to open the briefcase, only to find it locked.

The businessman from before got up and punched Naoto in the head. "Be quiet! I told you to be quiet!"

_'Jerk,' _thought Naoto as the businessman went back to work. "Neh, miss? Haven you been to the dining car a while back?"

"Huh? No, why?"

"Because I saw a pretty lady dressed like you eating with some men in black!"

"Oh, you must be mistaken, because I wasn't there."

"Oh! What about you, Mr.?" Naoto asked the businessman.

"I'm working! Go away!"

"Gah!" Naoto got up from her seat and ran off. "Sorry! Please excuse me!"

Next, she walked up to the old man, who was listening to some music. "Mr.? Have you been to the dining car before?"

The old man pulled out his earphones and said, "I love Disneyland! Eh? What was it you said?"

"I said, have you-"

"I just soiled my pants."

_'...Next,' _thought Naoto awkwardly before leaving for the next suspect. However, this one seemed to match, due to his rich clothing, his gold accessories, and the way he looked. "Hey, Mr.? Have you been to the dining car?"

The rich man simply took off his glasses. "What?"

Naoto was getting really nervous around this man. "N-nothing!" She saw the rich man wiping his gold glasses with the same kind of napkin that came from the dining car and thought for sure this person was the culprit. "Excuse me sir! My paper airplane landed up there! Can I go get it?"

Naoto walked past the rich man carefully and climbed up, trying to secretly open the suitcase. The rich man panicked and grabbed her arm. "Don't touch my stuff!" Unfortunately, he yanked to hard, making Naoto accidentally throw the suitcase which was about to land. She remembered the men in black saying that it will explode 10 seconds after it experiences a violent shake, in other words, if it hits the ground.

_'Shit!' _she thought, jumping to the ground and trying to catch the suitcase. But to her surprise, the suitcase stopped falling because it was in the hands of Genta.

"Nice catch, Genta-kun!" cheered Ayumi.

"Yeah! Nice work!" agreed Mitsuhiko.

Naoto got up and said, "Genta, be very, VERY, careful with that! Ow!"

"Didn't I tell you not to disturb my work?!" shouted the businessman, who had hit Naoto's head before. Naoto tripped and fell at Genta's feet, causing him to accidentally drop the suitcase. Naoto panicked and tried to cover her ears for the impact, but felt something soft at her head.

_'Underwear?' _she thought, pulling it from her head. _'At least that rules him out.' _

Unfortunately for Naoto and her friends, they were kicked out from that area and were found by Ran. "Alright, enough playing around!" demanded Ran, dragging Naoto by her arm as everyone else followed.

Naoto was back at her seat, with Ran watching her carefully. She quickly checked her watch and panicked. _'Only 14 minutes left! But there are only three people left, including that old man! Who? Who is it?' I'll have to go and investigate more!' _

She hopped off her seat and was ready to leave when Ran grabbed her arm and carried her back to her seat. "And where are you going?"

"Bathroom!"

"You just went!"

"Uh...gift shop!"

"Not on this train!"

"I'm hungry!"

"You're not Genta!"

"I'm thristy!"

"Just wait a bit!"

"I wanna go for a walk!"

"No!"

* * *

_7 minutes later... _

Naoto sighed before checking her watch. _'Oh crap! Only 7 minutes left! I have no choice but to explain everything and get the passengers evacuated! But no one will believe me, except for Ran-neechan. Once I explain everything, she'll tell everyone, but if I don't, then the explosion will happen, and...' _

Naoto got up and walked towards Ran. "Ran-neechan, there's something I need to tell you."

Ran sighed, putting down her book. "You don't listen well, do you?"

Instead, Naoto's face grew serious and she spoke, "Cut it out, I'm being serious."

Ran let out a small gasp, surprised by Naoto's tone. "What's going on?"

"...I'm sorry. I've been lying to you. I'm not Naoto Edogawa, and I'm not supposed to be in grade school either. Believe it or not, my true name is-"

"Oh come on! We passed the ocean today!" complained Genta from the other seats.

"Yeah, when you looked away for a second," said Ayumi.

"And besides, this seat is on the side facing the mountains!" reminded Mitsuhiko. "You couldn't see it anyways!"

_'Wait, what?' _thought Naoto. _'That lady was facing the ocean side, so there's no way she could see Mt. Fuji! Wait, she could! In the dining car, with the men in black! But why would she lie about going there? Unless it was to cover up the fact she was an accomplice of theirs just in case! That means that woman has the bomb!' _She glanced at her watch and realized 1 minute was left.

**"Attention, all passengers! If you need to use cellular phones, please use it outside your car!" **

_'Oh no! That lady had the cellular phone!' _thought Naoto before starting to run. However, she was held back by an impatient Ran.

"Hey! What is it this time?"

"Hey, guys!' called out Naoto. "Ran-neechan said that she'll pay for any food we want on this train!"

Quickly, Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko rushed towards Ran and started calling out orders as Naoto made a run for it. Ran was flustered as she tried to deal with the three kids while Naoto was getting away.

_'It would be impossible for a notebook computer or a walkman to get a certain button or key pressed at exactly 3:10,' _thought Naoto, running towards the car she needed to go. _'But if a phone were to be set with a certain time and number, it's possible to trigger the bomb!' _

Naoto made it to outside the car and saw the lady from before, placing the briefcase down on the ground as she talked to someone on the phone. She remembered that once the lady activated her phone, the bomb would trigger in exactly 10 seconds. Quickly, Naoto switched on her power-enhancing kick shoes and rushed towards the briefcase as fast as she could before kicking it out through the window.

**BOOM! **As soon as the briefcase was outside, the 10 seconds were up, and the bomb exploded. A lot of the people panicked and fell to the ground, unharmed but startled. Naoto was the only one sighing in relief.

"W-who are you?" asked the woman.

"Naoto Edogawa, future ace detective!"

"A-a detective?"

"Hey!" shouted Ran, picking up Naoto by the back of her jacket. "Naoto-chan, please tell me you didn't cause whatever just happened!"

"N-no way! I'm just a kid!"

The train had stopped and later, the police arrived to investigate, causing Naoto and her companions to miss the wedding. However, nobody was hurt, and that was the most important part.

The woman that had the explosive suitcase admitted she used 100 million dollars to buy information about gold from two men and was arrested. But how to open the box, they were going to tell her through the phone. But, right from the beginning, the two men decided to kill her. Soon, those two were arrested and interrogated later on.

Even so, Naoto swore that she was going to find the men in black and make them pay for all the crimes they've done, especially what they did to her dead brother. She wouldn't give up, but for now, she'll stay as the lovable kid everyone knows and loves.

On their train ride back, Ran spoke up. "Hey, Naoto-chan? Back then, what were you trying to say?"

"Huh? What?"

"Don't play coy! You were about to say something! What was it?"

"Nothing! Really!" Naoto thought, _'I have so got to keep my mouth shut sometimes.' _

* * *

**Alright, finished! Oh yeah, I plan to do those episodes you request, but don't request later episodes like episode 100 or something like that! Yes, I will eventually get to them, but for now, please stick with the episodes like episode 10 or something.**


	7. Valentine's Murder Case

**Alright! Here's that Valentine chapter/episode you wanted, only with changes! One of you requested this episode!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Naoto-chan! Guess what I found in my locker today!" Ayumi cheered, running to her friend after school. Genta and Mitsuhiko weren't too far behind them, but they could still hear the two girls.

"Hmm?" Naoto was eating a chocolate bar she found in her locker and saw Ayumi holding two chocolate bars.

"Oh! You got one too? Well, I got two, and I already asked Mitsuhiko and Genta-kun if they wanted one, but they said no, so do you want one?"

Naoto shook her head. "No, but I wonder who sent the chocolates."

Mitsuhiko and Genta were whispering to each other. "You do realize that the girls have to give the chocolates, not the boys," whispered Mitsuhiko.

"You're one to talk," countered Genta. "You gave away two chocolates, one for Ayum-chan, and one to Naoto-kun! And you're supposed to give away one to the girl you really like! And if you ask me, I like Ayumi-chan than Naoto-kun. She's nice, but she can be a bit weird sometimes-"

"She's not!" shouted Mitsuhiko. "She's smart! She's pretty, and she's the future mother of my children!"

"..."

"..."

"...I'm sorry...?" wondered Genta.

When Mitsuhiko realized all eyes were turned to him, he chuckled nervously. "I...uh...Igottagobye!"

Genta checked his watched and realized what time it was. "Oh! I have a lesson to go to! Bye!"

After both boys left, Naoto noticed Ran and her best friend Sonoko talking to two very attractive-looking guys. One was wearing a baseball uniform and well-built, and the other was much more taller than his friend, and had blond hair.

"Um...catch you later, Ayumi-chan!" said Naoto, running off. Once she was close to Ran and Sonoko without revealing herself, she hid behind a pole and started eavesdropping on the conversation.

"...It's nice to meet you again, Shinji-kun! Akiyo-kun!" said Sonoko.

The baseball player named Akiyo tipped his cap at them and smiled. "Well, it's been...well, since middle school since we last met. How about a small reunion party? How about my place, around 4 tommorow? You can meet the rest of our friends!"

"Yeah! It'll be great!" said the blond-haired guy named Shinji. "I'll pick up Ran at somewhere 3, that okay?"

"Yeah, sure!"

_'They're going by first name basis? Great, Shinichi-nii-' _Naoto stopped thinking, now remembering he was dead. _'Oh yeah...wait, this might be good for Ran-neechan! If she can find a better guy, she can forget her crush on Shinichi-niichan, and live on happily! Just in case, maybe I should go, too. But I have a feeling she won't let me go.' _

"Ooh! I bet you're gonna pick me up, huh?' asked Sonoko, eagerly launching herself onto Akiyo's arm.

"Uh...sure..." said Akiyo, turning a bit pink in the face. "But you see, I already have a girlfriend."

"Oh, sorry!" _'Damn it! Someone already got to him!' _

* * *

_That night... _

Naoto yawned, ready to go to bed when she smelled some chocolate in the kitchen and saw Ran mixing some sort of chocolate into a small pot with a wooden spoon. "Neh, Ran-neechan? What are you doing?"

Ran noticed her and greeted her. "Oh, I'm just making chocolate for a friend. I'm visiting him tommorow."

Naoto, knowing full well who it was and wanting to tease her, giggled. "It's that Shinichi person, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" Ran pretended to be oblivious and looked away. "I have no idea who that is. I wonder if he's a jerk or a perverted asshole! *gasp* He could be both!"

_'Great, just great. Happy now, Shinichi baka?' _thought Naoto, joking a bit as she sweatdropped.

* * *

_The next day... _

"I'm gone, otou-san!" called out Ran as she rushed down the stairs of the detective agency to greet Shinji, who was waiting near his car. Naoto, who was playing outside with a soccer ball, saw Shinji pull up his car, indicating he was here.

While Ran and Shinji were talking, Naoto ran by and quickly pressed the button to open the back trunk of the car before quickly running to the back. She opened it a little, enough to fit her small frame in, and closed the trunk as quietly as she could right before Shinji drove off with Ran.

_'Great! I'm in! But what do I do when Ran-neechan finds out I'm here...?' _wondered Naoto before suddenly getting sleepy. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

About half an hour later, Ran and Shinji arrived back at Akiyo's place, which happened to be a huge house. Shinji got out of the car as well as Ran. "Hey, Ran? You should go inside first. There's something I have to pick up from the trunk."

"Okay!" Once Ran was inside, she was greeted by Sonoko and Akiyo, who had already arrived minutes before they came.

Shinji opened the trunk to get his belongings out when he spotted a sleeping little girl inside. "What the...?"

As soon as sunlight shined down on Naoto, she yawned and stretched her arms as she slowly woke up to see Shinji staring back at her. _'Oh crap!' _she thought.

"Wow! This house is huge!" gasped Ran, astonished as she and Sonoko sat down near the table, where everyone else was sitting. There was a dark haired teen who looked like an emo and was reading a book, a brown-haired girl, a black-haired girl with blue streaks in her hair, a muscular teen, Akiyo's mother, and a small boy about Naoto's age.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves!" said the brown-haired girl. "I'm Naomi Satsuki, nice to meet you. I'm also Akiyo's girlfriend!"

"Yeah, I'm Sonoko Suzuki, and this is my friend, Ran," laughed Sonoko. _'Lucky! She got to him before me!' _

"I'm Tatsumi," introduced the muscular teen.

"I happen to be Akiyo's mother. Pleasure to meet you," said Akiyo before turning to the small boy. "Oh, and this is my nephew, Pino."

"Oh...I'm Reina. Hello," said the blue streaked girl shyly.

"Hey, Matsu! Hurry up and introduce yourself!" Akiyo urged the teen reading a book.

Matsu looked up from his book and said, "Oh, name's Matsu. Bye."

After seeing Matsu go back to his book, Akiyo groaned. "Like always! This is why you'll never get laid!"

"Ow! Let me go!" cried out Naoto, being carried under Shinji's armpit as he walked inside the house.

"Uh...where'd you get the kid, Shinji?" asked the brown-haired girl.

"Naoto-chan?! How'd you get here?" asked Ran, surprised.

"I...uh..."

Shinji handed Naoto to Ran. "Here you go. I found her sleeping in the back of the car. It seems the little critter managed to sneak inside."

Naoto knew she had to stay here a bit so she could keep an eye on Ran and her possible new lover, so she did the one thing that all girls, and even boys, couldn't resist.

The puppy dog eyes.

"Ran-neechan? Please let me stay...? I promise not to cause any trouble!"

"Yeah! Let her stay! She'll be no harm!" squealed Naomi, along with Reina.

"Well...I guess it's alright," agreed Ran. "But we're having a long talk back at home, missy!"

"Hurray!" cheered Naoto. _'Great, only problem now is to make Ran-neechan forget about that talk.' _

"We should eat the food Mom prepared for us," suggested Akiyo. As soon as food was served, everyone began to eat and started talking amongst each other about pretty much anything.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wanna come to my room? I wanna show you something!" said Pino, tugging on Naoto's arm.

Ran giggled. 'Go ahead, Naoto-chan! I think it's really important!"

"Um...sure?" Naoto followed the energetic Pino up the stairs into his room.

"I bet 10 bucks that Pino has a crush on the kid!" giggled Sonoko.

"Obviously!" agreed Naomi.

_'They do know I can hear them, right?' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping as she was forced to play some games with Pino, who was enjoying himself. After a while, they returned back downstairs, with Pino holding her hand.

As soon as Ran and the girls saw them, they squealed and started taking pictures. "H-hey! What was that for?" asked Naoto.

"We can't help it! You and Pino look so cute!' squealed Naomi.

"Who wants cake?' announced Akiyo's mother, handing out plates of delicious pieces of cake.

"No thanks," said Akiyo. "I really don't like sweets too much."

When Akiyo held up his cup of coffee, Naoto noticed a blue parasol in it. While she looked around, she saw all of the cups of coffee having different colored parasols. "Nee, why were there different kinds of umbrellas in the coffee? Isn't it for cool drinks?"

"Well, it's because of Tatsumi-kun," explained Akiyo's mother, pointing to Tatsumi. "He's a bit color blind so he tends to forget which cup is his. So, I have to put colored parasols so he might be able to tell the difference."

"Yeah, sorry for the trouble," apologized Tatsumi.

After everyone ate the cake and drank their coffees, Akiyo sighed and got up, getting out a small box of cigarettes only to find it empty. "Great, all out."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't smoke a lot," disagreed Shinji. "Well, at least you always take out the filter."

Then, Matsu stood up and handed him his own box of cigarettes. "Here, take one." Akiyo then snatched the entire box of cigarettes and walked outside. "I said one! ...Douche."

"I have to do something right now," said Naomi, standing up with a box of chocolates before following Akiyo outside.

"Naoto-chan, how was it at Pino's room? Did you two do something together?" teased Ran.

"I wanna know too!" said Reina.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" A sudden scream startled everyone inside and made them rush outside. When they got outside, they saw Naomi on her knees, looking frightened and staring at Akiyo's collapsed body.

Naoto rushed over and tried to find Akiyo's pulse in his neck, which was none. "He has no pulse!"

"I'll go call the ambulence!" announced Ran, running back inside. Akiyo's mother rushed towards her son's body and began sobbing, begging him to come back.

* * *

_Later, when the police arrived... _

"Akiyo Satkumi, age 16, died around 5:37 P.M.," theorized Megure, checking through the papers of the victim. "It seems the cause of death was poison, and the cigarette happened to be poisoned."

Everyone immediantly glanced at Matsu, who was calm. "Fine! I did it! I poisoned the cigarette!"

"Why'd you do it?" asked Kogoro.

"Yeah! Akiyo never did anything wrong!" yelled Shinji.

"Wrong!" said Matsu. "He used to bully me before, and he was having an affair with my former girlfriend! He broke her heart by dating Naomi and caused her to commit suicide! I'm glad he's dead!"

"Well, that settles it then!" said Kogoro, pointing to Matsu. "You're the killer! Take him away!"

_'No, I highly doubt it. Something else is wrong here,' _thought Naoto, checking through the list of items that were on the ground. The suspects were forced to put everything from their pockets and bags to the ground so that the investigators could investigate them. She spotted a wet vial on the ground and smelled it, before reading what was on it.

"I can't believe you!" cried out Naomi as Matsu was being taken away. Naoto quickly took out her wristwatch and shot a dart at Kogoro's neck once again, making him fall asleep the instant he fell into the chair.

Naoto quickly changed the dials on her bowtie and said, **"Wait just a moment, everyone! It seems we were misleading everything! I know who the true killer is, and it's not Matsu!" **

"But he confessed!" pointed out Megure.

**"Right, well, he did TRY to kill him, but he failed," **continued Naoto. _'Just like he does in life.' _**"He failed when Akiyo took out the filter, which was poisoned. But I'll tell you who the real murderer is...Tatsumi!" **

"Wait, what?!" exclaimed Reina. "Wait, how would he even poison Akiyo?!"

"**Through the coffee." **

"We all drank the whole thing! We would have died!"

**"Right, but remember that Akiyo was colorblind. Because of that, Akiyo's mother placed colored parasols so that he could tell the difference. Because of that, Tatsumi chose the blue parasol, but he never intended to kill Akiyo. I'm thinking that he was trying to target someone else, by the look on his face." **

"Proof!" shouted Shinji. "Where's the proof that Tatsumi poisoned one of the cups? And who was he really targeting?"

**"Well, I don't know who he was really targeting, but I do have proof he tried to poison someone. It's in the pile of items you all had to take out from your pockets. One of them is a vial, which is wet. While everyone was getting the police, Tatsumi rushed to the bathroom to wash out the vial, which had poison inside. But, if someone could sniff it very carefully, you can still smell poison and traces of poison would be inside." **

"Tatsumi did...?" wondered Reina as everyone looked at the muscular teen.

"...Yes. I poisoned the coffee," sighed Tatsumi.

"But why?!"

"I never intended to kill Akiyo! Honest! I would never! What I was really aiming for was Matsu! After he broke up with his girlfriend, he started dating my sister but broke up with her because he wasn't interested in her no more! He really made my sister into depression, and I couldn't forgive him!"

**"Maybe if you'd pay attention, you wouldn't have commited a crime in the first place. If you had thought this through, it would be common sense not to do this. You killed someone, but at a price. You killed Naomi's boyfriend instead of avenging your sister. Not only did you kill her boyfriend, but you made her only love go away for good." **

"You're right," said Tatsumi, falling to his knees and crying. "I wasn't thinking straight...In the end, I wasn't avenging someone. I was a murderer..."

* * *

_Later that day... _

"Today sure was a sad Valentine's Day," sighed Ran as she and Naoto sat on a bench in the park. "I never got to meet with Shinichi and give him this chocolate."

Naoto let out a sigh as she glanced down. _'Sorry, Ran-neechan. I can't tell you yet. Especially not on a special day like this. I don't want to break anymore hearts.' _

"Hey, Naoto-chan! Instead of giving this to the meanie Shinichi, let's eat it together!" suggested Ran, giving her half of the chocolate.

"Yay!" As Naoto ate, she sweatdropped and thought, _'Well, she hasn't forgotten about Shinichi-baka, but she does think he's a meanie.' _

* * *

**I totally got you guys! You all thought his mother was the killer, like in the episode! Wrong! But anyways, this is the best I can come up with, so read and review!**


	8. Incident of Monthly Presents and Threats

**Look, I know some of the chapters I've done are based off of the anime, but come on, the cases are ingenious! Soon, I'll create some cases, but for now, we'll have to stick to the cases that are in the anime, with some changes.**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, only the OCs. **

* * *

"We're home!" called out Ran and Naoto as they entered into Mouri's Detective Agency with groceries. Kogoro was asleep in his chair, so he didn't notice the two girls coming in.

"But seriously, I wonder what's going on with Shinichi," said Ran. "I haven't heard from him in a while."

Naoto panicked, knowing full well Shinichi wasn't coming back anytime soon. "H-he's probably stuck on a case or something!"

"But he usually solves a case right away. Unless..." Ran started thinking about it, making Naoto confused, and a bit worried. "Maybe he's lost his touch!"

_'Not even close!' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping.

**DING DONG! **Hearing the doorbell ring, Ran called out, "Coming!" As soon as she opened the door, a mountain of toys pummeled down towards her and Naoto, causing Naoto to get hit by several toys and fall to the ground. Due to the noise, Kogoro woke up from his sleep.

"Sorry, little girl. Are you okay?" asked a man, offering his hand to Naoto.

Naoto noticed some cuts on the man's hand and nodded, taking his hand. "Y-yeah, I'm okay."

After everything was settled and the toys were piled on the table, the man introduced himself. "My name is Ogawa. For about 2 years, I've received toys and money every month, but since there was no return address or name, I got nervous and freaked out."

"I see..." muttered Kogoro, examining the toys. "Do you have any children?"

"Yes, I have a 5-year old son named Yuuta."

"Okay, just how much money are they sending you?"

"1,000,000 a month, so far, in total, $25,000,000."

"$25,000,000?!" exclaimed Ran, Kogoro, and Naoto, shocked.

"Yuuta is happy that he gets toys every month," continued Ogawa. "But I feel uncomfortable about getting free money, so I haven't used a single cent of it."

"Well, if that case, how about I take care of it for you?" suggested Kogoro happily.

"Otou-san!" scolded Ran.

"I was just kidding!' _'Not.' _"Anyways, you really have no idea who's been sending you these?"

"Yes."

"Maybe it's from one of your patients!" suggested Naoto. "After all, you're a surgeon, right?"

"Well, yes," admitted Ogawa, surprised.

"Then, maybe it's from one of the patients you've saved," continued Naoto. "And they wanted to thank you properly."

"Yes, you could be right," agreed Ogawa. "But, I don't believe I ever mentioned my occupation before."

"How did you know he was a surgeon, Naoto-chan?" asked Ran, astonished.

"By his index fingers," explained Naoto. "I noticed slanted marks on his fingers, and I read that when surgeons operate, they hold the thread tight with their index fingers as they sew up the patient's injuries. That's why you get a mark or scar from your fingers."

"Is that true?" asked Kogoro.

"Y-yes. I just performed an operation this morning," revealed Ogawa. "But I'm impressed that you know this for someone your age!"

"Well, I did read it from a book before!" said Naoto, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"This kid's been reading a lot of useless things," muttered Kogoro.

"But that's amazing, Naoto-chan!" exclaimed Ran, impressed. "That was almost like...like..." She suddenly thought, _'Like Shinichi...wait, could it be...' _

"WAAAAHHH!" screamed Naoto, opening a box that popped out a scary-looking chibi monster.

Ran frowned. _'No, it couldn't be.' _

"Um...I got this letter today," said Ogawa, presenting some sort of envelope

Kogoro took the letter and opened it, revealing more money and a letter. "It looks like nothing's suspicious except for the money part."

"No, the money usually comes in a bigger package along with the toys, but today was different," said Ogawa.

Kogoro decided to read the letter outloud. "'I have finished paying the $25,000,000. In exchange, I will come and get it.' What does this mean?"

"I have absolutely no clue," said Ogawa.

As Kogoro decided to get a smoke, Naoto was busy examining the toy boxes when she noticed something amiss. "Neh, how come there aren't any stripes on this box?"

"Stripes?"

"Like that box," said Naoto, pointing to the cigarette box Kogoro was holding.

Kogoro took a glance at where Naoto was pointing and understood what she meant. "Oh, you mean the barcode. But wait, that is weird. There aren't any barcodes on any of these boxes."

"I've never seen these toys before either," said Naoto as Ran watched her carefully. "Some of these have scratches."

"Come to think of it, some of these toys have been damaged or broken," admitted Ogawa.

"Therefore, they must have been sending you used or pre-brought toys along with the money," concluded Kogoro.

"But why would they do this? What's the point?"

'Well, maybe...it's just a prank!" said Kogoro. "No doubt about it!"

_'No,' _thought Naoto. _'If it was a prank, nobody would send that large amount of money. There's just no point. Plus, there's that letter I'm worried about.' _

"That was great deduction! As expected from the great Mouri-san!" praised Ogawa.

"It was nothing!" assured Kogoro.

_'No, Naoto-chan's been giving out the clues,' _thought Ran, turning to Naoto, who was thinking hard. _'Could it be really possible that...?' _

Kogoro examined the letter. "So the only clue is this letter."

"Maybe the sender wants something from Ogawa-san," said Naoto. "I mean, that's that the letter sounds that way."

"Oh yes, I remember now," said Ogawa. "There's this painting in the hospital that I heard is worth about $20,000,000."

"That must be it, then!" decided Kogoro. "The sender probably wants the painting, and added the toys as a bonus!"

"Maybe we should go to the hospital to look at that painting!" suggested Naoto, unaware that Ran was getting suspicious of her.

"Alright, let's go!"

* * *

_At the hospital... _

"This is a really big hospital!" admitted Kogoro, examining the surroundings.

"I was also surprised when I began working here 3 years ago," agreed Ogawa. "I transferred here from a very small hospital in a rural area."

"Dr. Ogawa, here are some new flowers for you," said a nurse, holding a pot of beautiful flowers.

"Oh, again?"

"Morning Glory?" wondered Kogoro. "In this cold weather?"

"They probably grew in a greenhouse or something," replied Ogawa. "These flowers also came from the same sender. Except that these flowers come once a year on February 19."

"The fact that it's flowers being sent must mean the sender is a woman," said Kogoro.

"The meaning of Morning Glory means 'short-lived love,'" revealed Ran.

After hearing that, Kogoro turned to Ogawa. "Is is possible you did something to a woman 2 years ago?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Then, what about on your son's birthday?"

"Yuuta's birthday is in December."

As Kogoro and Ogawa were talking, Naoto was given the Morning Glory flowers from the nurse and turned to both adults. "Neh, oji-san, why don't you ask Dr. Ogawa to let you see his patients' records? Maybe something happened on February 19th."

"That's true. May I see them?" requested Kogoro.

"You know, I can't allow outsiders to see the records," said Ogawa.

"Come on, just for a few minutes?"

"Well, if that's the case, I suppose so. I'll let you see them."

"Yes, sorry about doing this!"

_'Finally, we're getting somewhere!' _thought Naoto, following them while still holding onto the flowers, unaware that Ran was still suspicious of the small girl.

* * *

"How about it? That's 3 years worth of records," said Ogawa as Kogoro was reading through the records.

"Hmm..." Finally, Kogoro turned to Ogawa and asked, "Are you sure there isn't anyone in here that wanted the painting?"

"Yes. Would you like to see the painting?"

Kogoro got up, leaving the record books. "Yes, it might provide a clue. Where's the painting?"

"It's hung up in the patient's waiting room."

As Kogoro, Ran, and Ogawa started walking towards the waiting room, Ran noticed that Naoto didn't move an inch. "Naoto-chan? Aren't you coming?"

"I'll just wait here! The painting doesn't seem interesting," replied Naoto.

"Okay then. Don't cause any trouble, then!"

"Okay!" After Ran closed the door, Naoto went to work and saw down on a chair, reading through the record book pages and trying to find a clue on February 19.

Ran actually closed the door, but stayed behind to spy on what Naoto was doing. She quietly opened the door and peeked inside to see Naoto checking through the pagres of the record books.

_'This is just too strange! Her actions and knowledge skills are too high to be that of a normal elementary kid!' _thought Ran. _'All those cases, Naoto giving out hints, it almost seemed like Shinichi was talking! That's right! The day Shinichi and Saeko-chan disappeared was the day Naoto-chan appeared! Wait, could it be that Naoto-chan could be...Saeko-chan?' _

Ran opened the door, now determined to find out the truth. "Hey, Naoto-chan!" sang Ran, making the younger girl gasp and turn to Ran. "You shouldn't mess with the records!"

"R-right! I just wanted to read them! No harm done!" said Naoto, sighing in relief since it was only Ran and not some security guard.

"Did you find something?"

"No, not really!" lied Naoto, getting off the chair and walking towards a large bag of toys. Actually, she thought, _'It'd be best if I didn't tell Ran-neechan anything I found out. Well, I did search through the list of patients in February 19 in 3 years ago, and so far, there was only 8. If the gifts were for gratitude, there would be no problem, but something's off somehow...' _

"Well, if you do find something, let me know first, okay? After all, you must be very smart, Saeko-chan!" said Ran.

Naoto rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed. "Well, sure!" Suddenly, she and Ran realized that Ran had said _Saeko_, not _Naoto_.

"I knew it! You are Saeko-chan!" declared Ran.

"W-what are you talking about, Ran-neechan? Of course I'm not this 'Saeko!' Though she sounds fun!" said Naoto, nervously laughing. _'I am so screwed! If those men in black find out I'm still alive, then Ran-neechan and the others will be in danger! I can't trust Ran-neechan to keep this secret!' _

Naoto searched for something to change the subject and spotted the bag of toys. "Ooh! It's a Game Boy Advance! I always wanted one! And there's even Yaiba's Adventure in it too! I love it!"

"Huh?" Ran was dumbfounded as she watched Naoto play with the Game Boy.

"Yay! Yay! Destroy those monsters! Yay, Yaiba!" cheered Naoto. _'I don't even know how to play video games!' _

_'Now I know she's pretending to do this on purpose! If Naoto-chan really is Saeko-chan, she must know where Shinichi is!' _thought Ran, getting more suspicious. _'Wait a minute! If that's true, then that means...SHE COULD TELL SHINICHI ALL MY SECRETS! INCLUDING ME LIKING SHINICHI!' _

While Ran turned bright red, the Yaiba inside Naoto's video game had just exploded. "Awww! I died! Ran-neechan, do you want to play next?"

"YOU BETTER NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT ME SINGING IN THE SHOWER!" screamed Ran so loudly, she startled not only Naoto, but possibly every patient in the hospital.

"Um...sure. Whatever you say. I'll just keep playing then," said Naoto, calming down a bit after that wild outburst. She glanced at the video game screen and noticed two names, Tomoya Ogino, and Yuuta Ogawa.

_'Huh? Dr. Ogawa's son is named Yuuta,' _she thought. _'In situations like this, you normally put in your name, or the name of a character you like. Wait...Tomoya Ogino...I heard that name somewhere...in the records!' _

Naoto rushed back to the record books and began searching page to page until she found Tomoya Ogino's name in the book. It turns out he was 5 years old when he passed away in a failed operation, 3 years ago in February 19.

"Ran!" cried out Naoto, now realizing what the letter meant. "You have to bring Dr. Ogawa and the old man back here immediantly! Hurry! There's no time!"

As Ran started running back towards her father and the doctor, she thought, _'It has to be her! The way she talks, acts, thinks, it's all like Shinichi! And then transferred to Saeko-chan! She imitates a lot like her brother, so it has to be her!' _

Soon, Kogoro and the others arrived back to the records room. 'What's going on? Did you really figure out who the sender is?"

Naoto turned the page for Tomoya Ogino, presenting it to the adults. "I believe it's the father of the child named Tomoya Ogino!"

Ogawa took the book from Naoto and examined it over. "Oh! This boy died 3 years ago from appendictis!"

"Wait, you can die from that?" asked Kogoro, surprised.

"Yes, if it's treated too late. It was too late when that boy came into the hospital. But his father refused to accept it."

"Then why would he send gifts instead of resenting you?" wondered Kogoro.

"Because they're not gifts!" shouted Naoto. "The toys all belonged to Tomoya Ogino, who died 3 years ago!"

"What?!" Shocked, Ogawa dropped the book of records which landed at his feet.

Naoto continued explaining, "In other words, the sender has been giving you belongings that belonged to his son, filled with hatred and grudges! The Morning Glories that are sent to the hospital every once each year is the flower to makr his son's death. That letter means that on the day his son died, he will take your son next!"

"Where is your son right now?!" questioned Kogoro to a shocked Ogawa.

"My wife should be picking him up from kindergarten by now!"

"Then go call and warn her immediantly!"

* * *

"What?! What do you mean somebody picked him up already?!" cried out Ogawa, talking through the phone.

_"They already said that his father picked him up already. That wasn't you?" _

_'This is bad!' _thought Naoto. _'Tomoya's father must have picked him up! If we don't get to Yuuta in time, he'll...he'll...!' _

After Ogawa handed up, Naoto asked, "Where's the school?"

"It's not far from here!" answered Ogawa, escorting the trio as they made a run for it. Soon, they reached the park, where they saw a small boy playing with a toy airplane, and right behind him with a man with a knife!

Naoto frantically searched for something to use to disarm the man when she spotted a soccer ball nearby. Quickly, she turned the dial on her power sneakers and rushed towards the soccer ball, kicking it towards the man's arm and making him drop the knife.

"Did...did Naoto-chan do that?" wondered Ran.

"Yuuta!" cried out Ogawa as he, Kogoro, Ran, and Naoto started running towards the boy as the man was clutching his hand in pain.

Quickly regaining himself, the man grabbed the fallen knife and the boy. "Don't move!" Immediantly, everyone stopped moving. "Don't move, or else!"

"Ogino-san! So it was you sending those gifts!" said Ogawa.

"Yes, it was me!" revealed Mr. Ogino. "I'm the father of the child you killed 3 years ago!"

"That operation wasn't a failure! It was too late by the time he arrived at the hospital!"

"Shut up! You don't know how it feels, having you only son killed! The only thing left was his ashes and his life insurance money of $25,000,000!"

"So that's why you sent those things," replied Kogoro.

"That's right!" continued Mr. Ogino. "I sent you the money, memoirs, and the Morning Glories my son loved, filled with hate! Now it's your turn to experience how it feels losing a son!"

Ogawa fell to his knees, begging, "Please, don't do this! You can kill me, but just don't hurt my son!"

"Oh! I see!" said Yuuta, turning to Mr. Ogino. "So you were the ones sending me those presents! Thank you so much! I play with them all the time!"

"T-Tomoya..." Mr. Ogino couldn't take it and dropped the knife, unable to kill the innocent little boy as he started sobbing.

"What's wrong? Did my Dad do something wrong?" asked Yuuta, concerned.

"No, little boy. It's not your Dad's fault. It's mine. I knew all along it wasn't the surgery's fault, but...I couldn't accept it..."

"...Ran, call the police," decided Kogoro.

"Wait," interrupted Ogawa. "Please, just let it go."

"But he tried to-"

"It's alright. It doesn't matter anymore."

* * *

_Later that night... _

Naoto, who had been out for a walk, returned home. "I'm home! Huh? Where's oji-san?"

"Oh, he went out for a drink," answered Ran, cleaning up the place. "You must be hungry! I'll fix you something to eat!"

"Sure. Can you make my favorite dish? It's curry."

Suddenly, Ran closed the door and locked it, making sure Naoto had no route out. "Tell me, Naoto-chan. That was Saeko-chan's favorite dish as well."

"W-well, it's just a coincidence!" said Naoto nervously. "I mean, lots of kids like curry!"

"Don't lie!" shouted Ran, now interrogating her. "You are Saeko-chan, aren't you? Just admit it, and tell me where Shinichi is!"

**RING! RING! **"T-the phone, Ran-neechan!"

"Just leave it!"

"B-but..."

Ran frowned, annoyed. "Fine! I'll go get it!" She stomped towards the phone and picked it up. "Yes, hello! Mouri's Detective A-"

_"Ran-neechan! It's good to hear from you again!" _spoke Saeko's voice through the other line.

Ran seemed shocked as she looked from the phone to Naoto. "Saeko-chan? But if you're here, then how...?"

_"What's wrong, Ran-neechan? I managed to get the phone and check through the phone book to get the number! Shinichi nii-chan's in the bathroom, so he doesn't know I'm calling you!" _

"Oh, it's nothing, Saeko-chan! I was just a bit confused, that's all!"

_'Whew! Thank god, Professor Agasa!' _thought Naoto, relieved.

* * *

**I am finished now! Next episode is that soccer kidnapping episode! You'll see what I mean! Read and review!**


	9. The Blackmailing of a Pro Soccer Player

**Well, here's a request from Smiley-Nami! She wants the 'Blackmailing Soccer' episode, so here we go! Oh yeah, some parts are gonna be from the abridged version too.**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Detective Conan series, or the abridged series, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Naoto-kun, aren't you excited about tonight's soccer match?" asked Genta as he, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Naoto were sitting on a bench in the park.

"Eh?"

"You know, the soccer match tonight!" reminded Mitsuhiko.

Naoto seemed to remember what they were talking about. "Oh! The final match of the Sunday Cup?"

'Who do you think will win?" wondered Ayumi.

"Of course the Tokyo Spirits will win! After all, they have Hide!" cheered Genta. "He's the leading scorer with 17 goals!"

"I like Hide, but Naoki's much better!' said Ayumi.

"But don't you remember?" said Mitsuhiko. "Naoki hurt his leg during practice, so he can't play. I'm betting with the Big Osaka, with Ramos in it!"

"Hmm..." Naoto loved soccer, but she wasn't an energetic fan as Shinichi, but still liked the games. "I think Hide will win!"

"You're just saying that because he's got a lot of fangirls, so you're a fangirl too!" teased Genta.

"N-no! It's not like that!"

"Of course it's not!" shouted Mitsuhiko indigantly.

"Eh?" Genta got curious. "And why are you agreeing with her?"

"Nothing!"

* * *

_Later... _

Naoto sighed, relieved to finally get back home. However, as she was walking up the stairs to Mouri's Detective Agency, she saw a schoolgirl, who seemed all shy and frightened to go in.

"Why don't you go in?" asked Naoto. "You have business here, right? Here, let me." Naoto walked up to the door and opened it, seeing how Ran and Kogoro were home. "Ran-neechan! Oji-san! We have a visitor!"

As soon as everything as settled, and the school girl was given some coffee, she introduced herself. "My name is Ryoko Akagi. There's somebody I want you to find. He suddenly disappeared and I don't know what to do. I have a picture of him. We were dating." Ryoko opened up her schoolbag and gave the picture over.

The surprising news, it was a picture of Shinichi.

"EH?!" cried out Kogoro, Ran, and Naoto, especially the two girls.

"You were going out with Shinichi?!" exclaimed Ran.

"Y-yes."

Ran was too shocked to think straight. "T-to think that Shinichi..."

_'Oh my God! ...Shinichi-niichan was two-timing?!' _thought Naoto, trying not to think of it that way. "M-maybe she's talking about someone that looked similar to him! It must be a mistake!"

"Mistake?! How can I mistake a wonderful lover?" cried out Ryoko. "We even_ kissed_!"

"K-K-K-KISSED?!" yelled Ran and Naoto, both red-faced.

Naoto glared up at the ceiling, where she thought her brother might be in the heavens, and frowned. _'Shinichi-niichan...what were you really doing during your cases...?' _

"Ha! Gotta give the kid credit. He was probably making some claim about investigating cases when he was out dating a girl!" chuckled Kogoro.

"No!" said Naoto, already embarrassed. "This has got to be som-"

Ran swiftly turned towards the small girl, already angered. "Kids should stay out of this!"

"Please! I can't live without Shinichi-san!" pleaded Ryoko.

_'I can't tell if she's lying or not,' _thought Naoto. _'But if she is telling the truth, Shinichi-baka, if I ever go to the afterline, you better have a very, VERY, good explanation for this!' _

Naoto noticed the phone ringing and spoke outloud, "Uh...the phone's ringing!"

"So, you only kissed?! Did you do anything else?" asked Kogoro, curious.

"Yeah, tell us!" urged Ran.

"No! I can't speak of such embarrassing things!" said Ryoko, turning a bit red.

As much as Naoto was curious too, she knew that the two other adults were too curious about Shinichi to notice the phone was ringing. Annoyed, she walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello? Mouri's Detective Agency!"

_"Oh, Saeko-kun? Nice timing!"_ called out Agasa's voice from the line.

"Oh! Dr. Agasa!"

_"About the new invention I made, the battery is-" _

Deciding to do something, Naoto spoke outloud in a childish voice, "Okay! I got it! Bye, Shinichi-niichan!"

After Naoto hanged up, everyone turned their direction to her. "Was that Shinichi?! What did he say?!" demanded Ran angrily.

"He said he'll call Ryoko-san later, so don't worry," assured Naoto.

Ryoko jumped out of her seat, excited. "Shinichi-san's going to see me?! That's so wonderful!"

Annoyed and somewhat jealous, Ran decided, "Anyways, we should go to her house!"

"But why?"

"Because Shinichi might be at her house. And if that happens, I'll be there to give him a warm _welcome!_" As soon as she said that, she kicked the air so hard, anyone could hear the force of that kick if that ever hit a physical object.

"Um...I think I want to see only Shinichi-san," spoke Ryoko quietly.

"But you don't have a problem with that, don't you?' asked Ran, making some sort of small, but creepy smile at her.

"N-no, it's fine!"

"Well, I'm not going to be involved with this," said Kogoro.

"I...guess I'll go too?" said Naoto awkwardly. _'The only reason I'm going is to see if this Ryoko person is really telling the truth!'_

* * *

_Later, at Ryoko's apartment... _

After Ryoko unlocked her apartment door, she said, "Please, come on in." Still somewhat mad, Ran stomped in after Ryoko entered.

Just when Naoto was about to also enter, she noticed scratch marks on the door lock, indicating someone tried to bust in the home. After closing the door, she got curious and opened the shoe cabinet nearby, finding only men and children shoes, but no women's.

_'That's odd. Not women shoes. There's no other shoe cabinet, so who is that girl?' _thought Naoto, wondering if Ryoko was lying. She entered the dining room, where Ran was waiting impatiently and Ryoko seemed to have difficulty finding something.

"Come on...where's the tea...?" Ryoko was opening cabinets in the kitchens to retrieve the items neccessary to make tea, making Naoto suspect more of Ryoko.

After Ryoko set the tea, she, Naoto, and Ran sat together. Ran asked in a demanding tone, "So Akagi-san, how long have you and Shinichi been together? Hello?"

"..." Ryoko seemed to be in some sort of daydream, and Naoto just wanted to get out of the room due to the unusual tension surrounding Ran.

"HEY YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A SAILOR JUPITER COSPLAYER I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

"H-huh?" Ryoko seemed to snap out of it. "I'm sorry, what were we talking about?"

_'Aaaand I'm outta here,' _thought Naoto, running out of the room. She found herself in front of a room, which the sign said: **Mamoru. **

After she entered, she was surprised to see such a messy and somewhat destroyed room, with books and items scattered around, like someone broke in. As she searched through the items, she found a picture of a older teenager and a small boy, whose name tag was Mamoru, possible the owner of the room.

* * *

_With Ran and Ryoko... _

_"The crowd in the national stadium is getting excited in the Sunda cup finals!" _cheered the announcer as the TV screen showed the soccer players with the soccer finals. _"Who will win? The Tokyo Spirits or the Big Osaka?" _

Ran seemed a bit upset and mad as she stared intentionally at Ryoko, who was staring at the TV screen. _'Turn on the TV while I'm talking, eh?' _thought Ran angrily. _'Maybe if I cut open her STOMACH she'll pay attention!' _

After Naoto finished her investigation in Mamoru's room, she reentered the dining room. "Oh! Is that the soccer finals?"

"Yup! And Ryoko-san just couldn't resist!" said Ran, laughing a bit as she stared murderously at her. _'I WILL BURY HER IN THE SAHARA DESERT AND PISS ON HER GRAVE!' _

_"Oh! Hide messed up again!" _cried out the announcer, showing the young man in the soccer game. _'Hide Akagi, age 19, also the best in the Tokyo Spirits! Is he perhaps nervous?' _

_'Wait, that guy looks a lot like the guy in the picture! Hide Akagi!' _thought Naoto, now seeing the connection. _'Mamoru must be his younger brother. I heardd their parents died 2 years ago, so Hide's been taking care of his brother. But then, who is Ryoko?' _

As Naoto continued watching the game, she noticed Hide was purposely making mistakes, something he wouldn't normally do. Then, remembering the messed up lock, Hide's mistakes, Ryoko's concerned look, and the messed up room of Mamoru, she realized this was all a kidnapping and blackmail.

Immediantly, Naoto left the dining room and rushed towards the bathroom, where she got out a bento box which was really a fax machine. Pressing a fake strawberry, the fax machine activated and automatically transformed into a fax machine.

_"This is my new invention! This is a bento-shaped portable fax machine!"_ spoke Agasa in Naoto's mind.

"Dumbest invention ever," commented Naoto before calling the Akagi residence.

**RING! RING! **Ryoko gasped when she heard the phone ring, quickly got up, and answered the phone. "Hello?"

_**"Ryoko, it's me, Shinichi."**_

Ryoko gasped. "Shinichi-san? Is this Shinichi-san?"

_**"Mamoru's been kidnapped, wasn't he?"** _

Ryoko was stunned. "How did you know?"

**_"Also, the kidnapper wants Hide to throw the game, doesn't he? So, you wanted my help by lying that we were dating, right? You were proabably told that Mamoru would suffer the consequences if you called the police. Ryoko Akagi's not your real name either, is it?"_**

Ryoko sighed in relief. "Yes. You're correct. But how did you know this was a kidnapping?"

Naoto, who was really on the phone but using her voice changing bowtie to change her voice into Shinichi, stuttered, **_"W-well, that just goes to show how good I am! Anyways, can you write down all the details you know about the kidnapping and fax it to me?"_ **

"O-okay!" said Ryoko, writing down in a piece of paper.

Ran got impatient and stood up. "What's going on?! Is that Shinichi or not?!"

Naoto freaked out, hearing Ran's angry tone even though she was still on the phone. _'Oh, great!' _

Ran stomped over and snatched the phone from Ryoko's hand, screaming, "**SHI-NI-CHI!" **However, Ran seemed surprised since she heard her voice echo. "What the? Why am I hearing my voice from the other phone?"

Naoto fell out of her toilet seat after hearing Ran's outburst, but realized that Ran must be onto her, so she quickly turned off the phone. _'Note to self, never make Ran-neechan angry,' _she thought as she sat down on the toilet seat again.

_'Hold on! That means Shinichi is in this house!' _thought Ran before stomping out of the room, determined to find him. In the meantime, Ryoko placed the information she had on the piece of paper, tapped a few numbers, and started to fax it to 'Shinichi,' and Naoto got the paper from the fax machine and started to read it.

"'I found out that Mamoru was kidnapped this morning when I came over to make breakfast. The letter that the kidnapper left and the letter the kidnapper made Mamoru wrote are attached together,'" read Naoto. She glanced at the other piece of paper. '"Brother, ressurect me.' ...What?"

Naoto ripped out both papers and examined them before noticing two dots on the other piece of paper. Just when Naoto was about to come out, she heard Ran's voice. "Shinichi!" shouted Ran, searching all over. "Where are you?! Shinichi!"

As soon as the coast was cleared, Naoto walked back to the dining room, where the game was still going on. _"Hide is coming about in the center and he shoots...and...SCORES!" _The TV showed Hide kicking the soccer ball at the goal, but too hard so it landed at the goal, shocking Naoto and Ryoko, who knew what was going on.

**RING! RING! **Ryoko and Naoto rushed to the fax machine/phone, where it was showing a message. Ryoko took it out and gasped when she read it before falling to her knees in despair.

Naoto took a glance at the paper and read it to herself. '"You broke the deal. You will never see your little brother again.' Oh damn!"

Ryoko started sobbing. "No! Mamoru-chan!"

_'This isn't good! I gotta find out who the kidnapper is, and quick!' _thought Naoto, running back to Mamoru's room for more clues. The only suspicious thing she could find was an opened package about a new video game that was recently released. She remembered Genta and Mitsuhiko mentioning about the character being 'ressurected' somewhere, so she might as well get started from that point.

Naoto quickly turned on the game and noticed the main character was named after Mamoru. But the next character slot happened to be someone named Naoki. _'That's weird. The only people I know are Mamoru, Naoki, and Ryoko,' _thought Naoto. _'Wait, those two dots from before...could they be the 'ki' for Naoki?' _

**RING! RING! **Ryoko managed to gather herself and answered the phone. "Yes? Hello?"

Naoto was in the bathroom again, disguising her voice as Shinichi. **"I know where Mamoru-kun is. First off, do you know a guy by the name of Naoki?" **

"Yes! He's a good friend and lives nearby!" answered Ryoko happily.

_**"By any chance, did he often come here to play with Mamoru-kun?"**_

"Yes, that's right. Why?"

**_"Mamoru-kun wasn't kidnapped. The force open of the door lock, Mamoru-kun's messy room, all of these were done by the kidnapper on purpose to make it look like a real criminal had done it. The letter Mamoru wrote probably was, 'I'm going to Naoki-niichan's place to get ressurected.' The kidnapper ripepd that paper and used it."_ **

"T-then, the person who kidnapped Mamoru-chan is..."

_**"That's right. It couldn't be anyone else but Naoki Uemura. Mamoru-kun is probably at his house, at best, unharmed." **_

_KNOCK. KNOCK. _Naoto glanced at the bathroom door which was now knocked. Ran was on the other side, smirking in victory. "Shinichi...I finall found you."

Naoto panicked and tried to say, **"Um...no you haven't?" **

"Grrr! Shinichi! Come on out! I know you're there!" yelled Ran, trying to open the bathroom door which was locked.

Naoto freaked out and tried to convince her to stop. **"No! You can't come in! Can't you see?! I am using the bathroom!" **

Ran stopped and stepped back, ready to use the full force of her karate. "Oh, I see. I guess we'll see about that, you two-timing piece of-!"

"Excuse me!" cried out Ryoko.

"WHADYA WHAT, YOU LITTLE WHORE?!"

"Shinichi-san says he has something to say to you over the phone!"

Ran turned to the bathroom door and demanded, "If you want something to say, just say it right now!"

**'B-but it's so important, only you can know!" **

Ran growled and stomped towards Ryoko before snatching the phone from her. "Okay! What is it? Wait, what's that beeping sound?"

It only took a few more seconds to realize that Shinichi had hanged up and quickly ran from the bathroom. Ran rushed towards the front door only to find it open, and saw Naoto on the ground.

Naoto pretended to be hurt and pointed to the door. "Shinichi-niichan knocked me over and said he was running to Naoki's place!"

Ran turned to Ryoko with seething eyes. "Alright, you mattress, hopping, whore frog! **SHOW ME WHERE HE LIVES!" **Without waiting for an answer, Ran grabbed Ryoko's arm and dragged her along as Naoto followed.

* * *

_At Naoki's place... _

**DING DONG! DING DONG! **After Ryoko rang the doorbell, a male's voice spoke from the other door. "Yes? Who is it?"

"It's Ryoko! Open up!"

At her request, the man named Naoki opened the door halfway with the chain getting in the way. Naoki also seemed to have some sort of broken leg. "What's wrong?"

'Sorry, can you please let us in?" asked Ryoko.

"I can't do that! Besides, my girlfriend's here, and I don't want her getting the wrong idea," said Naoki.

"Mamoru-chan! If you can hear me, just scream!" called out Ryoko, surprising Naoki.

"What are you talking about? Mamoru's with you, right?"

"Stand back," said Ran with a serious tone. As soon as Ryoko and Naoto moved out of the way, Ran focused her strength, and kicked down the door with ease, knocking down Naoki as well.

_'Oh great. Now what'll I do if she discovers what really happens?' _thought Naoto, sweatdropping as she and the others entered.

"SHINICHI, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!" demanded Ran as she and Ryoko searched the rooms.

When Ryoko searched the last room, she gasped when she saw a small boy, Mamoru, playing video games and completely unharmed. "Mamoru-chan!" She rushed over and hugged him. "Stupid! Don't leave the house without saying anything!"

"Huh? But I left a note! Plus, thanks to Naoki-niichan, I beat my game!" cheered Mamoru, completely clueless what was going on.

After Ryoko informed Hide about Mamoru being recovered, soon, the second half of the game started, and it seems that Hide was winning and back in the game. No surprise since he just discovered that his younger brother was now unharmed.

Naoki walked into the room, managing to get out of the door Ran had knocked down. "Neh, why did you kidnap Mamoru-kun in the first place?" asked Naoto.

"Yeah! I want to know too!" said Ryoko. "Hide's done nothing to you!"

"Wrong. It's always been like this. Hide's a genius, and I'm the hardworking one. His popularity and pay are higher than mine," explained Naoki. "Our goals in high school were pretty much the same as well. That's why I practiced every day, to become better than Hide. Then, I got to be as good-no, better than him! But he injured my leg during practice! And on purpose too, because he was afraid I were to surpass him!"

_'Oh yeah, I heard that Naoki-san got it in an accident during practice and can't use it for 3 months,' _thought Naoto.

"But, I never planned to harm Mamoru in the first place. Once the game was over, I planned to send him home and disappear. I just wanted to get back at him..."

_"The game is over! Tokyo Spirits vs the Big Osaka! 3-1! The Tokyo Spirits have won the Sunday Cup!" _announced the announcer, showing the Tokyo Spirits winning.

"Yay! Yay!" cheered Mamoru.

"It's game over for me too," said Naoki, sitting down. "Ryoko-chan, you can call the cops now. You can tell them I kidnapped Mamoru."

_"Congratulations, Hide," _said one of the reporters, interviewing Hide. _"What would you like to dedicate this victory to?"_

_"Well, I like to dedicate it to my little brother, Mamoru, but mostly to my rival, Naoki. If he were here, we would have scored more points. Hurry up and come back to the field, Naoki. I'll be waiting in the field." _

Tears fell down in Naoki's face. "What an idiot...he didn't even know I kidnapped his brother..."

Ran grabbed Naoki's shirt and demanded, "Alright, buddy! WHERE. IS. SHINICHI?!"

Naoki stopped crying, and was instead, confused. "Who?"

"Maybe we should try giving him a call," suggested Ryoko.

_'Crap! I never turned my phone off!' _thought Naoto, sneaking out of the room and trying to get to a different location. However, when she tried to get to the front door, her phone rang, causing her to run off.

Naoto managed to run into an alleyway and turn off the phone, but unfortunately, she hasn't lost Ran. "Shinichi! I know you're there! Come on out! How do you know that Ryoko girl? And why were you at her house? I thought you were busy investigating some case!"

**"H-hold on! She was-" **

"LIAR!" yelled Ran as Naoto noticed Agasa's car coming into the alleyway, showing light. "She was crying!" said Ran, tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll just leave!"

Naoto quickly messed up her hair to look exactly like Shinichi before standing up on a box, so only Ran could see the shadow of 'Shinichi.' **"Ran, please hear me out. Please don't cry." **

"What are you saying?! You're the one making me cry!"

**"But I...I'm truly sorry I'm making you cry. I...well, gotta run! Bye!" **

After seeing Shinichi's shadow run off, Ran cried out, "Wait, Shinichi!" She rushed over and saw only Agasa's car and Agasa.

"Oh, hello, Ran-kun!" said Agasa. "Shinichi just ran past me a moment ago!"

"Shinichi!" cried out Ran, running past Agasa's car and deeper into the alleyway.

Naoto sighed in relief as she showed herself, which she was hiding in the back seat of the car. "Man! That was too close for comfort!"

* * *

**Whew! Just wanted to say that I won't be working on this fanfic for a while! Also, if you have any cases you made up, please tell me so I might be able to put them in chapters!**


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